Table of contents for Issue 137 in iPad & iPhone User

Price: £999 from fave.co/2zMwHKC This is a ‘tock’ year for the iPhone (or, in Apple lingo, an ‘S’ update) and many of us expected a relatively quiet and minor refresh for 2018 after the fireworks of 2017’s iPhone X. Of course, Apple doesn’t really do quiet phone launches, and two of its late-2018 newbies are fascinating: if nothing else the XS Max (read our review on page 24) and XR have enormous screens (the biggest and second-biggest Apple’s ever offered) and the latter’s price tag offers a comparatively affordable entry point to the new generation of all-screen iPhones. But where does that leave the third new handset, the iPhone XS? Rather outshone. Physically, it’s the same design as the iPhone X, and the 5.8in edge-to-edge screen that looked so fancy…

We’re enjoying our new iPhone XS devices, but that’s not necessarily true for everyone else who has one. As is the case with every new iPhone launch, there are a few technical issues cropping up for at least a small percentage of users. The three issues most broadly corroborated by users online are the ‘beautygate’ selfie camera problems, irregularities with charging, and wireless performance problems. ‘Beautygate’ selfie-smoothing The most widespread complaint by far is that the front-facing camera on the iPhone XS is applying a sort of beautification filter to selfies. Users complain that selfies taken with the front camera smooths out their skin, giving it a ‘plastic’ look, and that the XS alters the colour tone in order to give their skin a bit of a glow. Apparently, this…

In a financial conference call during the last year, Apple CEO Tim Cook described the iPhone X as setting up the next ten years of smartphones. It’s easy to see now what Cook meant by that: last month, the company updated all of its new iPhones to follow the design example set by the iPhone X. But even as it unveiled the iPhone XS Max and the iPhone XR, the company ran into a struggle when it came to the iPhone X’s successor, the iPhone XS. How do you take what was formerly your most advanced iPhone and distinguish it from the rest of your now equally advanced line-up? That’s one reason why during Apple’s event, about halfway through Apple’s description of the iPhone XS, I started to get a…

Price: £1,099 from fave.co/2zNSP7m The introduction of the iPhone X last year meant you could have an entirely new iPhone in your hands with innovative new features such as Face ID and a big screen in a compact body. Now Apple has iterated that design to create the XS, but aside from the gold finish, there isn’t really anything new to see on the outside. What is new though, is the XS Max, a larger option that gives us the biggest screen yet in an iPhone at a whopping 6.5in. The design is the same, but importantly the fact that there’s feature parity across both models mean you no longer have to compromise if you want the smaller phone as you did when you chose the iPhone 8, say, over…

It’s been a big month for meaty iOS game releases. Games like Professor Layton and the Curious Village, Life is Strange: Before the Storm, and Monster Hunter Stories (pictured) all made the move over from dedicated gaming platforms, but there are some mobile-only gems in the mix here too, such as Alphabear 2 and Wall Kickers. 1. Alphabear 2 Price: Free from fave.co/2O3Osh7 The original Alphabear was a delight, so it should come as no surprise that sequel Alphabear 2 is similarly charming and enthralling. As before, you’ll build words out of the Scrabble-like letter tiles in view, but there’s quite a bit more going on than that. Each tile is only viable for a few turns, and if you don’t use it, the tile turns to stone – and…

So that £1,000-plus sticker shock didn’t put you off from upgrading to the poorly-named iPhone XS or even-worse-named iPhone XS Max. I don’t blame you – I bought the one, too. I know you want to dive right in the moment you get the box in your hands, but take a beat and do a little prep first. We have a little setup advice you’re going to want to pay attention to. Sure, it seems like an unnecessary drag, but this stuff is going to really save you a lot of time and frustration later. 1. Back up and restore That’s right, you’re going to want to back up your old iPhone after you have your new iPhone XS in hand, so the backup is as up to date as…

For the first time since its introduction in 2014, the Apple Watch has a new design – and this time it’s a bit more substantial than sticking a red dot on the Digital Crown. For the watch’s fourth generation, Apple has introduced a larger screen and a slightly bigger case, all while retaining the classic styling that made the Apple Watch a worldwide hit. But the beauty of the new Apple Watch’s isn’t merely skin deep. Apple has updated nearly everything about the watch, inside and out. It’s a whole new generation: familiar, yet overhauled. Specifications Much as with previous Apple Watch releases, the Series 4 comes in two sizes. But while Series 0-4 measured 38mm for the smaller watch and 42mm for the larger (measured vertically), the new ones…