Table of contents for No. 183 in iCreate

There comes a time in every Mac’s life when age catches up with it. The advent of larger applications and more demanding operating systems can take their toll on slower processors and less expansive hard drives – but that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to upgrade. This issue we provide a whole host of tips and solutions to help get older Macs operating at peak performance as well as exploring if an iPad could be a worthwhile (and cheaper) alternative to a Mac. With more features and subtle nuances of iOS 11 coming to the fore in the months since its release, we felt it an appropriate time to round up the very best tips and tricks from Apple’s latest mobile operating system to help you get the most out…

For older Mac laptops it is highly likely that the battery will start to cause problems before any other component. The reality is that only a replacement battery will resolve this in the long run, but there are steps you can take to prevent the problems before they occur. 1 A simple monitor Battery Health 2 is available from the Mac App Store and acts as a simple tool to help you monitor current battery levels and the overall health of your unit. 2 The main panel When you open the app you will see a long panel displaying various stats such as the maximum mAh of the battery and what the battery is capable of now. 3 In the detail Take time to peruse the ‘Battery Details’ section to…

One of the first failings you will notice with an older Mac that is struggling for resources is a slower than average startup time from cold. To minimise this you should limit the number of apps that run automatically and the good news is that the process to manage this is extremely quick and simple. 1 Access your account Open System Preferences and then select ‘Users & Groups’. Now click your account to see which options are open to you. Limited tweaks are available in the first panel. 2 Check the items Click the lock icon and enter your password to allow changes to be made. Now click ‘Login Items’ at the top to see which apps open at startup. 3 Disable specific apps Highlight any apps that you do…

Desktop content is stored in RAM and as such will use precious resources all of the time you are using your Mac. The system needs to display the content and make it easily accessible, but do you actually need to load up your desktop in this way? It is easy to de-clutter the desktop and stay efficient in macOS. Here’s a few tips to help you on your way… One folder If you are working on a project which is taking up much of your time, simply keep one folder on the desktop for it. That will give you quick access and de-clutter your desktop at the same time. Manage screenshots Screenshots will by default be sent to the desktop, but if you open Terminal and enter ‘defaults write com.apple.screencapture…

Many of us shoot photos using our camera’s Auto metering mode, which can lead to over or under-exposed photos. On a sunny day your camera may struggle to create a balanced exposure that includes detail in both the shadows and the highlights. If a camera meters to reveal shadow detail, it may over-expose the highlights. If it meters to reveal highlight details, the shadows may be plunged into darkness. iPhone users can try using the HDR mode to capture detail in contrasting lighting scenarios but you may still end up with shots that need some tonal tweaking. Here, we show you how you can use the Histogram tool to fix under or over-exposed shots. Step-by-step How to use a histogram 1 Open image Choose File>Import. Go to Underexposed_ start.CR2. This…

One way to present your video footage in a more eye-catching way is to combine multiple clips onscreen at the same time. This is a fun way to create a mini montage that showcases the highlights of an activity such as a family day out in a more creative way. We’ll show you how to make your timeline clips zip in and out of the frame using split-screen effects, which are perfect for creating short and snappy video sequences to share via social media. You’ll also learn how to use the Picture-in-Picture effect to make the main image shrink into the frame like a TV news-style insert. Plus, we’ll use music to knit our multiple layers and effects into a slick sequence. Step-by-step Present video in multiple layers 1 Import…

The Tuner only functions when it detects a signal within a selected track. That track must have either a live input for the instrument or an acoustic microphone active to hear the pitch of a plucked string. It’s worth remembering that a direct electric signal therefore is preferable so no other background noise is detected to confuse the Tuner’s accuracy. Here we’ll examine where you need to look within your track to ensure the Tuner can detect a sound signal… 1 Direct input With an Audio instrument track already added and selected in the project, view Smart Controls (B) and check Recording Settings in the inspector. Make sure your guitar or bass interface is selected under input and a sound signal is coming in. 2 Microphone input You can also…

Before iOS 11, when you took a screenshot (press the Sleep/Wake button and the Home button together) you had to then open up your Photos app to edit, mark up or share the image. Now it can all be done instantly thanks to a small yet worthwhile addition. When you take a screenshot in iOS 11 a thumbnail of the image will be displayed for a couple of seconds in the lower-left corner of the screen. If you tap on the thumbnail you will instantly open it up. 1. Take a screenshot Take a screenshot of whatever is currently displayed on your iPhone screen by pressing the Sleep/Wake and Home buttons together until you hear a shutter click. 2. Tap on thumbnail A small thumbnail will then be displayed in…

Prior to iOS 11 we could only save websites as PDFs in iBooks but now we have the freedom to annotate them, share them or store them in a location of our choice, either on our device or in iCloud. Here’s a quick guide to creating, marking up and sharing PDFs… 1. Navigate to site While in the Safari app, navigate to the webpage that you would like to save as a PDF and then tap the Share button in the toolbar at the bottom of the interface. 2. Tap option On the Share screen, scroll through the lower row of sharing options and you will see the ‘Create PDF’ option. Tap this and the page will be instantly converted. 3. Mark up PDF You can now tap on the…

GIFs may well be close to 30 years old but they are arguably more popular today then they have ever been. Funny, celebratory and often simply rude, they go down a storm on social media and on message networks but what if you like a GIF so much, that you want to keep it? With iOS, you can do just that, downloading GIFs to your phone for later use or just to look back on. But did you know that, thanks to a new folder within the Photos app, you can also view them in all of their moving glory? Here we take a look at how you can save, find, watch and then share any GIFs that are send to you on Messenger. You can also save GIFs via…

How useful is the Today screen on your iPhone? With AirLaunch – Launcher Widget you could make it a lot more useful and it could become the go-to place to start your favourite apps. It does more than simply launch apps and it can perform actions with apps and the contents of the clipboard. For example, instead of just launching the Facebook app, it could launch it with a page or group instead of the news feed. It can also search Google, Bing and DuckDuckGo with the contents of the clipboard, so you could copy some text in an app, pull down from the top for the Today screen, tap a button and see search results, even images and videos. Get AirLaunch from the App Store (apple.co/2mLrOJZ). Step-by-step Create shortcuts…

Just Press Record is based around simplicity, but that is a very good thing because here we have an app that is so easy to use that you may find it to be a tool that gets your attention multiple times a day. If you have a need to record people speaking or other sounds it will effectively give you an easy-to-use voice recorder that offers a few benefits above and beyond what you may expect. As we describe what the app does and how to use it, you may not see how well it works and it is this that lifts it above much of the competition. Less is more in terms of the interface here and familiarity could soon make it essential for you. Step-by-step Record anything at…

Podcasts have become hugely popular over recent years. True crime podcasts such as Serial have caught the imagination while those based on sport, gaming and comedy continually top the charts. But although you can listen to all of these on your Apple TV, it’s easy to get carried away and subscribe to lots of audio goodies. That’s, however, where stations come into their own. Stations allow you to group podcasts together, just as you’d create playlists in the Music app based around your favourite tunes. You could put those football podcasts in one place, for example, and quickly access the updated episodes without scrolling through long lists. What’s more, each of your stations are synced across all of your devices. You can tailor them to best suit your specific needs…

David Crookes If you find yourself staring at your iPhone screen too often then David will help cure you of this addiction on page 64. You can also check out his HomePod review on page 86. Shaun McGill This month, our resident Mac medic demonstrates how to perform expert CPR on your old, slow-running Apple computers to get them performing like new(ish). George Cairns This issue our creative expert demonstrates how to craft well-exposed shots in Photos, combine clips in iMovie and apply creative grading to your Final Cut Pro projects.…

In terms of cost versus performance, adding more RAM has to be one of the most effective upgrades for an older Mac. The older machines tend to be easier to upgrade than new ones and you could effectively double the performance of your Mac using a simple and safe upgrade process that will take you mere minutes. 1 What RAM? Click ‘About This Mac’ in the top-left corner and then click ‘System Report’. Now click ‘Memory’ to see exactly what RAM your Mac will accept. Ensure you check every detail. 2 Buy your RAM When you buy new RAM, do some research to ensure that the components are of good quality. You do not need to buy Apple-branded RAM for an older Mac. 3 Where is it? Older iMacs have…

No matter what changes you make to an older Mac to speed up performance, you should also consider what is installed and what you really need. The fewer apps and widgets you have installed the better for overall system performance and of course available space. Some regular housekeeping can make a big difference to day-to-day performance. 1 Remove apps The quickest way to remove apps is to navigate to the ‘Applications’ folder in Finder and to then right-click followed by ‘Move to Trash’. Your password may be needed. 2 Remove widgets Hover over the Dock and then click the ‘Applications’ icon. Click ‘Dashboard’ and then the ‘–’ icon at the bottom. Now click ‘X’ on any widget to remove it instantly. 3 Be thorough If you want to ensure that…

When you open Finder, it is likely that it will display a view of its choosing rather than what works for you. If the folder displayed by default happens to be crammed full of content you are again using resources for no real benefit and so it makes sense to change the default view to one that is more sparse. 1 The default view Every time you open Finder you are presented with a folder that is defined by the system. Changing this takes a couple of seconds and will save system resources going forward. 2 Finder preferences Open the Finder preferences and look for the ‘New Finder window shows’ option in the ‘General’ tab. You will see a dropdown menu – click it to change to a less cluttered…

As far as real instrumentation goes, GarageBand has been designed to support guitars as a most popular choice for users. Yes of course the connection too of a MIDI keyboard adds piano and synth control, but it’s the plugging in of an electric guitar or bass that is commonly how live performances are captured. So it stands to reason that both need to sound right so everything is harmonious in the mix. Thankfully a highly accurate digital Tuner is built in, allowing electric or acoustic guitars to be tweaked to the correct pitch before recording. In this guide we’ll look specifically at tuning a six-string guitar and four-string bass in standard tunings. Step-by-step Using GarageBand’s Tuner 1 Open Tuner The project must contain at least one Audio track with sound…

Logic users have had good cause to celebrate over the past few weeks, as Apple released a shiny new Logic Pro X update to coincide with January’s NAMM show. Logic Pro X 10.4 brings with it a plethora of new gadgets and toys, the most prominent of which is Smart Tempo, which equips Logic with a new set of extremely powerful tempo analysis and editing capabilities. Configured on a per-project basis in the Project Settings window, it works in two main ways. You can import or record a performance without a click track and have Logic automatically match the project tempo to what you’ve recorded, or you can maintain a fixed project tempo and have Logic instantly warp your recorded or imported audio to fit it. Step-by-step Sync up audio…

For various reasons, some file duplicates may be necessary and there is an obvious danger of deleting too much. A file with the same name may appear on the disk and in the Trash for example, and it should not be deleted. For this reason, the Duplicates Cleaner Preferences enable you to exclude certain types of files. These can be specified by size, folders, filename or extensions. Before you clean the disk, it is a good idea to check these settings and customise them. 1 Set the limits Open the app’s preferences and use the slider to skip small files that are not worth bothering with. If there are folders you do not want to include in the duplicates scan, click the ‘+’ button and add them. 2 Add exclusions…

Here we take a look at a couple of more advanced options for checking and repairing the audio on your Mac. Resetting the NVRAM will help, but another possibility is resetting the SMC (System Management Controller). The SMC affects several system functions, but according to Apple the audio is not among them. However, if you have tried everything else and are still having audio problems, reset the SMC. Go to support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201295 for full instructions. 1 Run audio tests Open Safari, go to www.audiocheck.net and select ‘Audio Tests’ at the top. There is a great collection of test sounds that enable you to thoroughly test the Mac’s audio capabilities and they may help to identify problems. 2 Reset NVRAM Many system settings are stored in a special area of memory called…

One of the nice features of Apple devices is that they share information through iCloud. Something saved on one device is then available on other devices because it is synced online. This is true of passwords and it is possible to see on the Mac passwords that were stored on the iPhone. These may be Wi-Fi passwords or the login details for websites. For this to work, go to System Preferences and click iCloud, and then make sure that the Keychain box is ticked. 1 View iCloud items First, open Keychain and select iCloud in the Keychains list in the sidebar. All Items can be selected in the lower part of the sidebar, but you may find it easier to locate items by selecting the Passwords category. 2 View website…

The best thing about streaming tunes from your Mac is that the music doesn’t have to end if you switch rooms. If, say, you move out of the lounge, where your Bluetooth sound system is situated, and into your office, where your Mac is based, then you can click on a button within the iTunes interface to re-route the sound back to your Mac speakers. Here’s what we mean… 1 Disconnect speaker The more cumbersome option is to click on the Bluetooth menu bar option, highlight the Bluetooth speaker that you are currently connected to and then choose the ‘Disconnect’ option to re-route the sound back to your Mac. 2 Switch in iTunes Alternatively, click on the AirPlay button to the left of the playback controls in the iTunes interface…

If you find that your Dock has become a little too cluttered then you can space things out by employing a cunning Terminal trick. The following will create invisible tiles that can be positioned between app icons to space them out, but if you find later on that you no longer require them, simply click, hold and drag them out of the Dock as you would any other tile. 1 Open Terminal Open your Terminal app and then enter: defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-apps -array-add ‘{“tile-type”=”spacer-tile”;}’; killall Dock. Once entered, the Dock will disappear and then reload with an invisible tile that you can drag left or right. 2 Rinse and repeat You can enter the command as many times as you want to create an invisible tile to drag between…

Whenever a new iPhone or iPad operating system is released there is a massive swirl of interest based on all of the hottest new enhancements and features that Apple showcased in its traditional pre-release Keynote. But once the latest iOS is ‘out there’ and a period of bedding-in takes place, lots of new little nuances come to light that weren’t necessarily highlighted early on. This is why we figured it was a good time to turn the spotlight back on iOS 11 and illuminate various features and enhancements that we have stumbled across in the months since release and show you how they can be used to make your life easier. Extra torch setting You may not have realised that the iPhone torch has extra settings in iOS 11. To…

If you own an iPhone 6 or later then iOS 11 will enable you to create cool Live Photos that look like GIFs straight from the camera. When selecting Live Photos in your Photos app you can swipe up to reveal further options and loop or bounce the image to create a continuous animation. Here’s how… 1 Take a Live Photo While in the Camera app, tap on the circular ‘Live Photo’ icon in the middle at the top of the screen and it will turn yellow. Now point and click as if taking a normal photo. 2 Open image When you have taken the Live Photo, tap on the thumbnail in the lower-left corner of the Camera interface and the image will be instantly opened in your Photos app.…

You may think it is odd using a Mac to check the battery on an iPhone or iPad. Why not simply run an app on the device itself? We looked at a dozen battery monitor apps and only one could give any useful information about the health of the battery, Battery Life. Even this is not as accurate or has as much information as coconutBattery. Access to battery information seems limited on iOS devices. 1 Get battery estimates Search for Battery Life by Victor Robinson in the App Store and install it; it is free. Open it, press the menu button and select ‘Runtime’. The battery time remaining for various activities, like talk time and video, is displayed. 2 How to show battery health information Press the menu button again…

Do you find yourself reaching for your iPhone far more often than you’d wish? Before you beat yourself up, it’s not your fault. According to design ethicist Tristan Harris, the colours displayed on our smartphone screens are too alluring. We are, in a nutshell, addicted and, if that wasn’t bad enough, emotionally attached. But don’t worry as it appears there is a solution – and no, it isn’t as drastic as turning the iPhone off. Instead, simply limiting the colour on your handset seems to be enough, with experts suggesting that greyscale makes our phones less appealing so we are less inclined to want to grab them every few minutes. Here is how to activate it… Step-by-step Turn your iPhone screen grey 1 Launch Settings Switching your iPhone from colour…

On the surface the Notes app on the iPhone looks simple and straightforward, but it has hidden features that you may not have discovered. For example, there does not appear to be a way to enter coloured text in Notes, or to select fonts other than the default and monospaced. However, there is a sneaky way of using colours and fonts in Notes but you must first create a note on the Apple Mac that contains them. Open the Notes app, create a note, change the colours and select fonts, let it sync with your iPhone and you are ready to start. This Mac note is used as a source of fonts and colours. Step-by-step Format with fonts, colours and styles 1 Apply styles Notes lets you apply styles to…

Share the results When a recording is selected you can share it in any way you like. You also have the option of sharing the transcription and the audio file at the same time. Get organised If you tap a file name, it will immediately change so that you can rename it. This is crucial for organising your recordings, but is not obvious at first. Always with you With an Apple Watch you can use the app to capture audio no matter where you are and even if you do not have your iPhone with you. The recordings even sync automatically.…

As you will no doubt know, when you receive an alert on your Apple Watch, you can be notified by a few taps on your wrist. Sometimes, though, you may feel that the alerts are not intense enough, causing you to miss an important notification. At other times, you may feel the feedback is too intense. In either case, you are able to increase or decrease the haptic feedback and even make it more prominent by pre-announcing when something is about to come through. Here we look at how you can do this, both on the Apple Watch itself and via the iPhone app. It’s a straightforward process that helps you to control what is happening on your wrist and it is worth playing around with it until you get…

3D Touch Touchscreen technology first introduced with the iPhone 6 and 6s Plus that lets you access new features depending on how hard you press down on the screen. Long-press Not to be confused with 3D Touch that relies on pressure, long-pressing simply means pressing down on part of your iOS screen for a second or two to access certain features. Passcode Usually four-digit, passcodes are a means of securing your device and add an extra layer of security to other methods of unlocking your device, such as TouchID. Widget These are accessible by swiping right from your iPhone’s home screen and provide access to certain features from built-in and third-party apps that you have installed.…

Key features Eight speakers • Siri voice control • Self-adjusting sound Learn more apple.com Available from apple.com In discussing the merits and otherwise of the HomePod, let us first address the elephant in the room: its price. There’s no getting around the fact that Apple’s smart speaker costs more than four times the second gen Amazon Echo and nearly two-and-a-half times a Google Home. But turn it on, set it up by bringing your iOS device close by and crank up those tunes from your Apple Music subscription, and the sheer quality of its sound will blow cobwebs off any argument that this speaker is not worth the outlay. It is, simply put, sensational and that is down to the incredible tech packed into its relatively small, minimally-designed…

Key features Powerful 40mm drivers • Detachable 3.5mm audio jack Learn more marshallheadphones.com Available from amazon.co.uk Marshall has, yet again, upheld its glorious reputation with another line of truly remarkable headphones. The ‘Monitor’ piece of kit oozes with the quality, sleekness and heart-racing power that we have come to expect from the illustrious audio brand. Each cup has been specifically designed to mould to the shape of your head, resulting in maximum noise isolation – so you feel like it is just you and the music. The headphones are also surprisingly lightweight and slender, providing you with high levels of comfort while you listen to your favourite tunes. More importantly, the sound quality on the Monitor headphones is unbelievably good. In fact, ‘unbelievably good’ does Marshall an injustice.…

Beautiful Mac desktops Kit macOS out with some stunning wallpapers Exclusive video tutorials Discover how to get more out of your devices Tutorial project files All the assets you’ll need to get creative All of this is yours… • Over 15 minutes of expert iOS and macOS video guides from MacMost • This issue's creative tutorial files to follow along with • Royalty-free fonts • Stock video clips to enhance your video-editing armour • Stunning new wallpapers to brighten up your Mac desktop Log in to www.filesilo.co.uk/icreate Register to get instant access to this pack of must-have creative resources, how-to videos and tutorial assets Free for digital readers too! Read on your tablet, download on your computer The home of great downloads – exclusive to your favourite magazines from Future…

One of the topics we get asked about the most is how to protect children and limit exactly what they can access on Mac or iOS, from the content they watch to the websites they can access. Well macOS and iOS have the safety net already in place by providing an expansive set of options that you can use to apply restrictions to pretty much everything. Here we guide you through some of them to help you get accustomed to the limits you can go to. 1 Start setting up restrictions If your child regularly uses an iPhone then you can place certain restrictions on what they can access through the internet, what they can view and what they can buy. Start off by launching Settings. 1 Enable the option…

Disk Map does one thing very well and that is help you free up space on any Mac drive. It lets you visually check to see which files take up the most space and you can in theory save many gigabytes in a matter of seconds using a process that you should never find too complicated at any point. “You can in theory save many gigabytes in a matter of seconds using Disk Map” Compression is useful If you have files that you do not use often, but which you need to keep, the ability to compress them is built into Disk Map. This simple process can also save you a lot of space. The delete queue Deleting files will ultimately save you the most space and you can build…

If your old Mac is showing any signs at all that a hardware failure could occur, you really should take steps to start backing up the content. There are multiple options available and we will highlight just one that will ensure that if the worst happens before you save your Mac, at least all of your precious data will be safe. 1 Setting up Backblaze Go to backblaze.com and click the ‘Try it for free’ option. You will need to enter a username and password, but can then download and run the installer for free. 2 Analysing your Mac Once activated the software may take some time to analyse your Mac drive, but you can let it do its work in the background while you get on with other things.…

Think carefully about what you use your old Mac for and then take a look at this selection of professional grade iPad apps. It is quite possible that you can replace much of your Mac usage if you take the time to adjust to the iPad way of working and thus give your old Mac even more life in the future. “You can replace much of your Mac usage with the iPad” 1 iA Writer If you need a word processor, but also want space to focus when creating imaginative works, iA Writer is an excellent option. You could write a full-length novel on your iPad. 2 Google Docs Google Docs is super-reliable and comes with all of the features and formatting options you could possibly need. It really is…

It is likely that Safari is the app that you use most often on your Mac whether it be for work or play. With this comes the temptation to use multiple extensions to speed up your usage, but on an older Mac you could be better off removing them and doing things manually. It is better to do something manually than have to wait due to slow performance. 1 Safari preferences When you open Safari preferences you will see a huge variety of areas that you can tweak. In general you can look to disable features for extra performance. 2 Ticking extensions Click the ‘Extensions’ tab at the top and examine the list that is currently installed. Untick any extension that you no longer need to use on a daily…

A contentious area in terms of Mac performance tweaking is the availability of memory cleaning apps. Some say that they offer little long-term benefit, but others swear by them for aged Macs that need continual help to perform acceptably. We would advise you to use one if all other options have failed to offer improvements for your Mac. 1 Download an app Go to the Mac App Store and search for ‘Memory Clean 2’. Download it and let it install as normal to start the process of cleaning your Mac regularly. 2 A simple view Once you click ‘Get Started’ you will be shown a simple panel with lots of specific memory information included. A new status bar item is also available to use. 3 Even more detail Click a…

If a shot is over-exposed then the highlights may be burnt out (clipped) and lack detail. If your highlights are too over-exposed then there’s little you can do to recover detail in the brightest (clipped) areas, even if you shoot in Camera Raw. For the best results set your camera to meter the highlights of a scene. It’s then easier and more effective to lighten up the under-exposed shadows. In the following walkthrough we show you how to selectively recover highlight detail if a shot’s not too over-exposed… 1 Open image Import Overexposed_start.CR2 and take it into the Edit workspace. The histogram graph is peaking towards the right, indicating bright over-exposed highlights. The over-exposed shadows are mostly washed out midtones in the middle of the graph. 2 Restore highlights Drop…

Most video clips need a few tweaks to their colours and tones to create a better looking shot. They may be slightly underexposed or feature flat drab colours (as with our tutorial’s start clip). Until the upgrade to version 10.4, Final Cut Pro X users had to rely on the basic Color Board tool to adjust colour and tone. This enabled them to selectively adjust shadows, midtones or highlights by dragging one of three control points up or down. The new Color Curves tool in 10.4 enables you to selectively tweak tones by adding as many control points as you like to a curve. You can also creatively adjust colours by changing the shape of individual red, green and blue curves. Step-by-step Adjust colour and tone using curves 1 Import…

If you have an iMac you probably don’t worry about storage space, but some MacBook models have as little as 128GB SSDs. That is severely limiting and even coping with 256GB can be a struggle. What can you do if the disk is nearly full and you are running out of space for new apps, photos and music? One way to gain more space is to delete duplicate files. Sometimes we accidentally make duplicates by downloading files twice, copying files as a backup, importing photos or music twice, and so on. Every disk has duplicate files and Duplicates Cleaner can find them and delete them. It is a free app in the Mac App Store, so install it and start cleaning! Step-by-step Free up drive storage space 1 Open Disk…

We had a problem with the sound on one of our Macs recently. The cause and the solution turned out to be very simple, but it wasn’t obvious. It was a misconfiguration of the settings. This is true of many sound problems and in nearly all cases an audio problem is easily fixed if you know where to look. Here we show you all the important settings and how to check that the Mac is configured correctly. There are multiple volume controls and multiple output options and it is easy to have the wrong ones set up. Check everything, but if all else fails, see our instructions on resetting the NVRAM as a last resort. What should you do first? Restart the Mac. Step-by-step Find and fix audio problems 1…

Every website, service and app seems to need a password these days – far too many for us to remember. Fortunately, passwords can automatically be remembered for us. For example, switch on your Mac and it automatically connects to your home or office network, even though a password is required; and Safari stores usernames and passwords for website logins and automatically enters the information. It is easy to forget passwords when you never use them, however. What if a friend wants to connect to your home Wi-Fi and you can’t find the password? What if you forget the login details for a website? The answer is to look them up in Keychain Access. Step-by-step Find forgotten passwords 1 Open Keychain Access Open the Go menu and select ‘Utilities’. When the…

If, like many, you have ditched your old wired music system in favour of a Bluetooth setup then you may not know that you can still use your old iPod to supply the music – and it doesn’t require connecting it with a 3.5mm AUX cable. It may be that in our ever-changing lives you find that you have music on your iPod that you don’t have anywhere else and so don’t want to cast aside your faithful old MP3 player any time soon. Well the good news is that you can still blast out your classic iPod playlists through your new wireless setup. All you have to do is connect your iPod to your Mac, locate it in iTunes and then turn on Bluetooth in your System Preferences. Step-by-step…

The Dock is a handy onscreen utility to aid productivity. From it we can launch our favourite apps, drag folders to it that we need to-hand and much more. You can drag items to your Dock to add them, drag them left or right within the Dock to re-order them and you can also tailor the Dock to some extent in System Preferences>Dock. But there’s much more you can do to it with your Mac’s trusty Terminal app. For example, here we show you how to use Terminal to move ‘Recent Items’ to your Dock for easy access. Usually found in the Apple Menu, Recent Items is useful for opening recently used documents and servers which wouldn’t otherwise live in the Dock. Step-by-step Add a ‘Recent Items’ stack 1 Launch…

Whenever we buy a new Mac or inherit an older one, they will be set up in a certain way, which means that you can either get used to it or instantly set about changing various System Preferences to make it your own and set it up in your preferred way. Here we will take you through ten quick and easy methods for instantly personalising your Mac, which involve diving under the bonnet to alter the appearance, applying your own time-saving methods via Hot Corners, deciding what elements are displayed in your Finder windows and much more besides. These tips are sure-fire methods to help you quickly deviate from your new Mac’s factory settings or to banish the ghosts of previous owners. 1 Apply custom wallpapers In System Preferences>Desktop &…

The Control Centre has been a favourite with iOS users since iOS 7 and for good reason. It allows you to access key features on your iPhone or iPad, such as a torch and playback controls for your music, by swiping up from the bottom of the screen. More utilities were added with iOS 11 and, as such, Control Centre now has its own section in Settings. Here you can make Control Centre unaccessible within apps (why?) and tailor which utilities are accessible within your Control Centre, thus being able to customise it to your own needs. 1. Open Settings Open your Settings app and then navigate to ‘Control Centre’. Now you will see an option called ‘Customise Controls’ – tap on this to get started. 2. Add new controls…

Choose your music source Another worthwhile iOS 11 enhancement is the option to switch music sources within Control Centre. You will see an enlarged pane dedicated to your music controls within the Control Centre, but if you tap on the signal icon in the top-right corner of this music pane then an additional screen will be displayed that lists all of your available sources (such as Bluetooth speakers and Apple TV) – just tap one to select it. Airplane mode remembers It’s probably the most subtle of iOS 11 enhancements but we thought it well worth pointing out. Now, after enabling Airplane mode (bring up Control Centre and then tap on the Airplane icon), any features you subsequently enabled while Airplane mode is on will be remembered the next time…

Many people find their iPhone operates more slowly as it grows older. It was thought that this was a deliberate tactic to force people to upgrade, but we now know the truth. Apple says that it slows down the performance of the iPhone when the battery is old in order to extend the battery life. The question is, are you affected by this? Is your iPhone, or iPad for that matter, running more slowly than it did when it was new because the battery is weak? We look at a couple of apps that provide information on the state of the battery in iPhones and iPads. It is easy to see when the battery is worn out and whether you need to take advantage of Apple’s battery replacement scheme. Step-by-step…

Apple’s TV app is a brilliant portal for numerous digital video streaming services. By using it, you don’t need to hop from one app to another to watch your favourite shows. Instead, the content is brought together in one place – not only saving time but increasing the opportunity of you stumbling across something new. The app’s interface is split into four sections: Watch Now has content you can view immediately via established services or iTunes; Library includes bought or rented iTunes content; Store lets you buy or rent new shows; and Search lets you look for content across services. So as long as you have an iPhone, iPad, iPod touch or Apple TV running iOS 11.2 or tvOS 11.2, you’re in for a televisual feast. Step-by-step Watch your first…

AirLaunch adds two widgets to the Today view – there is the app launcher and an information widget. We configured the launcher in the main tutorial and here we take a look at the information widget. Only three items are included in the free app, but more can be unlocked by buying them with diamonds. Press the diamond at the bottom of the home screen to see how many you have and to earn more for free. 1 Use AirLaunch Widget Press the title at the top of the AirLaunch screen to show a menu and select AirLaunch Widget. This displays three widgets and these can be seen on the Today screen if the widget is added. Press the ‘+’ button. 2 Add a monitor All of these monitors show…

Perhaps Apple has simply not woken up to the benefits but we find it odd that the company hasn’t included a native sleep tracking feature in watchOS. Maybe it believes most of us charge the Watch overnight rather than wear it in bed but decent battery life on later devices now means kipping with your wearable is entirely feasible. For that reason, AutoSleep has included live sleep tracking for Apple Watch in version 5.0 of its app. Although it costs a whisker under three notes, it accurately assesses the time you spend sleeping rather than simply lying frustratingly awake. It also figures how much of that is quality and deep. You get an indication of your heart rate too. But what if you still want to charge your Watch at…

I’ve had my iPhone X since release day but whenever anyone calls me they say that I sound very faint at times or they can’t hear me at all. Is this a software problem or is there something fundamentally wrong with my phone? Do you use a flip case with your iPhone X? If so, check that when you fold it back it doesn’t cover the rear mic. If this happens then the iPhone will assume that your slightly muffled voice is background noise and try to cancel it out. Otherwise you should take it to your nearest Genius Bar for professional analysis. I am having trouble taking photos on my iPhone 7 Plus – they just end up looking really bad. Is there anything I can do to improve…

Key features Internet radio (Wi-Fi/WLAN-capable) • FM/DAB/DAB+ radio Learn more sonoro.de Available from amazon.co.uk To just label the Sonoro STREAM a Bluetooth speaker does it a huge disservice. It is also an FM/DAB/DAB+ Internet Radio and Wi-Fi receiver that is capable of playing any audio you’d care to throw at it. When you fire the unit up a simple setup procedure will commence in which you can set time zones, connect it to your Wi-Fi etc, all of which is done through the STREAM’s gorgeous high-resolution 2.4” TFT colour display. Connecting the STREAM to your Mac or iOS device is as easy as selecting the Bluetooth setting on the display using the dial, after which it will become instantly discoverable. Inside the highly attractive wood and aluminium cabinet…

Mous Limitless iPhone X Case £29.99/$29.99 mous.co Proof that good iPhone cases don’t have to cost extortionate amounts of cash, Mous’s Limitless case boasts a suitably macho carbon fibre design and enough science behind the scenes to make a mockery of the modest price. The case is fashioned out of AiroShock, a material capable of absorbing tremendous impact by utilising micro crystals that turn into micro air pockets at high temperatures. Durable and desirable. Toast iPhone X Cover £34/$34 toastmade.com Made from real wood and laser-cut with exacting precision for a perfect fit, Toast’s sleek wooden iPhone X covers are designed to provide protection without adding bulk to your handset. Sanded and finished to showcase the grain, they feel deliciously smooth and smell fantastic. The only downside is that they…