MacFormat

Email your queries to letters@macformat.com Join the conversation at facebook.com/macformat or on Twitter @macformat Apple’s Vision Pro headset is almost ready for launch, and more and more A details are starting to emerge as we get closer to lift o

Mobile network operator EE has started offering its TV streaming service on the Apple TV 4K, the first time this has happened in the UK. It means you get to enjoy all the benefits of Apple’s high-res TV box and watch streamed content provided by BT-o

Scan here to get the latest tech news in your inbox! New Year may be over, but there’s still plenty to celebrate in this month’s MacFormat, starting with the 40th anniversary of the Mac. Arriving on 24 January 1984, the original Macintosh completely

Apple has revealed the winners of its annual App Store Awards, with developers honoured across the Apple ecosystem. There was an interesting mix of newcomers and familiar faces among the recipients. The iPhone App of the Year gong went to hiking app

APP OF THE MONTH Getting your images perfect takes work, and ACDSee Photo Studio for Mac’s latest edition is here to help. The app aims to simplify photo-editing and organisation with new features, including some powered by artificial intelligence (

> Teenage Engineering is rightly famous for the design of its musicmaking devices and its second-gen EP-133 KO II sampler is no exception. Designed to make it easy to record vocals, instruments and the sounds around you, the new EP-133 KO II then en

256GB > Maximum storage available on the current iPad Air at a cost of £849. The entry-level 64GB model costs £669. > The year the iPad Air made its debut. The tablet featured a 9.7-inch Retina display and was powered by Apple’s A7 chip (also on the

For our latest subscription offer see page 34! Some years are really S transformative for Apple. Others see more incremental improvements to its service and product lines. 2023 was definitely one of the latter. Although there were certainly meaningf

FROM apple.com/uk/iwork ALSO ON iPad, iPhone If you don’t have these yet, take a trip to the Mac App Store and download them now. They’re among the most important apps on the Mac, and although they previously cost money, they’re now completely free.

FROM macpaw.com ALSO ON Windows Worried about security when emailing or otherwise sharing documents – or simply want to password-protect them while they’re on your Mac or portable drive – download Encrypto. You can drop a file on to the Encrypto a

There are some surprisingly capable free apps designed for Apple’s touchscreen tablet. There are all sorts of utilities, productivity tools and games that take advantage of the iPad’s larger screen. Content creation apps such as Creatic prove the iPa

IT WILL TAKE 5 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to create and use web apps in macOS Sonoma YOU’LL NEED macOS 14 or later, Safari Safari is a great way to view a website but you can easily find yourself opening multiple tabs to see all your favourites. With

IT WILL TAKE 30 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to make your Mac uniquely your own YOU’LL NEED macOS 10.14 or later, an art or icon-creation app (optional) Many Mac users stick with the default macOS desktop and icons but you don’t have to! Instead, you c

IT WILL TAKE 30 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to use Widgets in macOS Sonoma YOU’LL NEED macOS 14 or later The Reminders widget displays the list set as the default in the Reminders app. To change it, make sure the widget gallery is active, then click t

IT WILL TAKE 20 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to use private browsing in Safari YOU’LL NEED Mac, iPhone, or iPad, Safari 17 If Safari detects a private window isn’t active for a period of time, it will lock it. But if the page is playing video or audio,

1 Reminders categorises your tasks based on criteria like due date, flag, completion status, and more. 2 This sidebar is where your custom lists are housed, including those in list view and those in kanban view. 3 Here are your kanban columns, where

IT WILL TAKE 20 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to navigate the new Apple Music Classical app for iPad YOU’LL NEED Apple Music Classical, a valid Apple Music subscription, iPadOS 15.4 or later Originally launched for iPhone in March 2023, Apple Music Clas

IT WILL TAKE 5 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to set up and adjust double tap YOU’LL NEED watchOS 10.1 or later Many of the interfaces on our devices are designed with the assumption that they’ll be used by people with two hands. That’s not always the ca

YOU WILL LEARN Details about the UK’s PSTN services switch-off, and the replacement digital voice services Key fact Most modern telephone handsets can be plugged into a broadband router in order to use digital VoIP services. However, some people need

IT WILL TAKE 10 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to navigate the changes to the TV app made in tvOS 17.2 YOU’LL NEED An Apple TV running tvOS 17.2 While Apple reserves the biggest, most newsworthy changes for its operating systems for Mac, iPhone, iPad and

EXPERT ADVICE Our resident genius solves your Mac and iOS problems Email your queries and your questions to genius@macformat.com Changes in iCloud Drive brought by C macOS 14 Sonoma have turned out to be both deeper than expected, and apply to all u

> Apple silicon Macs with basic M-series chips and a total of eight CPU cores only support a single external display. But you can use DisplayLink to expand that if you’re careful to choose the right displays that support it. Further details are at b

> Snapshots made by Time Machine every hour in association with its backups are automatically deleted once they’re more than 24 hours old. There’s no way to change that, although third-party backup utilities including Carbon Copy Cloner can be set to

The very first Mac launched in January 1984, and to celebrate its 40th anniversary – and our 400th issue! – we’re going back to the Mac. We’ll discover the Macs that paved the way for today’s magical M3s, trace macOS from System 1.0 to Sonoma, and ex

The Mac was never intended to be Apple’s star: that was the Lisa, Apple’s first computer with a graphical interface. While impressive, the Lisa was also unreliable and incredibly expensive: when it launched in 1983 it cost $9,995. An IBM PC was aroun

By 1997, Apple was close to going out of business. Returning CEO Steve Jobs quickly diagnosed the problem: Apple was making too many products and they weren’t good enough. To use Jobs’ favourite quote from hockey player Wayne Gretzky, Apple needed to

When Steve Jobs died in 2011, many pundits said it was the end of Apple: in the popular imagination, Steve Jobs was Apple and Apple was Steve Jobs. Who could fill such iconic shoes? Tim Cook? But Apple’s logistics wizard is not a man you should under

Smart home automation has been around for decades, first through companies like AMX and Crestron, then through protocols like X10, which enabled anyone with a little know-how and the right devices to automate their homes. Now, thanks to Amazon, Googl

When you add a new smart device to your home using HomeKit, you usually have two ways to use it… Either by using the device’s dedicated app, or by using the Home app for iPhone, iPad and Mac. You can even control your devices using your Apple Watch o

£449 FROM sonos.com FEATURES Dual-band Wi-Fi with AirPlay 2, Bluetooth 5.0 with AAC, water- and dust-resistant to IP56, approx 24hr battery, 3kg Sonos introduced the original Move back in 2019, but the company recently launched the updated Move 2, w

While the Home app makes it easy to create simple automations, you can actually do much more – one of our favourites is to have our lighting automatically switch on as we get closer to home. With the right equipment, you can also get blinds and curta

Our authoritative reviews help you make more informed choices Contact us Email your queries and your questions to letters@macformat.com Our reviews are totally independent; we’re not affiliated with Apple or anyone else, nor are we influenced by adve

£289.99 FROM mobilepixels.us FEATURES 14.1-inch 1080p FHD display, 300 nits, 60Hz, 16:9 aspect ratio, plug and play via USB-C port, auto-rotation and eye-care mode, compatible with macOS/Windows/ Nintendo Switch/Samsung Dex; 0.8kg S tudies show that

£149.99 FROM twelvesouth.eu FEATURES 3-in-1 charging stand, 15W MagSafe charging, 7.5W wireless charging pad, fast charger for Apple Watch, power supply, available in black or white Compact enough to sit on your desk or C your bedside table, Twelve S

£44.99 FROM belkin.com/uk FEATURES 5,000mAh power bank with 7.5W MagSafe charging, USB-C port with up to 10W charging, integrated kickstand B elkin makes some great accessories for iPhone and this 5,000mAh power bank is no exception. Available in bla

$159 (about £150) FROM lofree.co FEATURES Wireless or wired, hot-swappable, low-profile switches, white backlight and RGB sidelight L ofree’s Flow keyboard features a 10mm thin, low–profile, premium all–aluminium design. In fact, it’s very premium, a

£69.99 FROM ikmultimedia.com FEATURES 24-bit, 48kHz sound, USB-C audio and power, amp out, bundled software I K Multimedia has for many years been at the vanguard of making compact and portable interfaces for musicians wanting to hook up microphones,

£39.99 FROM uk.jlab.com FEATURES Bluetooth 5.3 with Multipoint connectivity, up to 20 hours battery life (5.5 hours earbuds, 14.5 hours charging case), water and dust-resistant to IP55, noise-cancelling microphones, USB-C charging, Be Aware mode J La

Despite the omnipresence of internet-connected devices, radio is still very popular with many people, particularly in its more advanced DAB format. This is superior to FM radio in many ways including clearer and stronger signals and being location in

Compact DAB radios run the gamut from small and portable to near-smart speaker levels of technology. If you want cheap and cheerful, the Groov-e Berlin is a good bet, and the JBL Tuner XL is a lot of fun even if a little pricey for what it is. At the

From £89.99 (upgrade £54.99) FROM parallels.com/uk NEEDS macOS 12 or later When it switched from near-universal Intel processors to its own chips, Apple knew that some would still need to run other operating systems on their new Macs, and provided f

£16.80 (upgrade £8.40) FROM macbartender.com NEEDS OS X 10.6 or later Bartender 5 extends this already brilliant app even further with its raft of must-have new features. ★★★★★ + Simple to use and configure + Brings order to your menu bar + New tools

Free (IAPs) FROM portal.app NEEDS macOS 13.1 or later A great app that ramps up the immersion to help you double down and focus. ★★★★★ + Dynamic wallpapers + Well-recorded spatial audio + Syncs with smart lighting - Mac app is missing focus timer Wit

EXPECTED OCT 2024 UPDATED OCT 202 In October 2023, Apple updated its only iMac – the 24in model, so that it now benefits from Apple’s also newly-released M3 chip. You can now choose between an 8-core CPU/8-core GPU at the entry-level, or an 8-core CP

W hilst trying to install a recent iPhone update (iOS 17.1.2), I hit upon a bit of a problem – there wasn’t enough space left on my device to install it. So, I did what I always do in these situations –I ploughed through the storage section (in Setti