Table of contents for July 2022 in Macworld UK

Apple has released macOS Monterey 12.4. It includes updates to the Podcasts app, the Studio Display Firmware Update 15.5, and bug fixes. Below are the release notes: macOS Monterey 12.4 includes enhancements to Apple Podcasts and bug fixes: Apple Podcasts includes a new setting to limit episodes stored on your Mac and automatically delete older ones Support for Studio Display Firmware Update 15.5, available as a separate update, refines camera tuning, including improved noise reduction, contrast and framing Some features may not be available for all regions or on all Apple devices. For information on the security content of Apple software updates, please visit this website: fave.co/3N3HRh4 Of note, Monterey 12.4 removes the beta tag for Universal Control, the system that lets you drag and drop files between Macs and…

Google has announced a set of new features for Chromebooks that arrived with the latest update, and one of them caught our eye: Google will begin warning users when a USB-C cable isn’t ‘performing ideally’ or ‘doesn’t support the high-performance USB4/Thunderbolt 3 standards’. With different Macs and iPads supporting different speeds and capabilities via the same connector, it can be hard to know which USB-C cable your Mac needs. With the wrong cable, data could move slowly, displays might not work properly, and charging speeds may suffer. While your Mac can identify the speed of ports and cables, most people probably don’t know how to do it. (You can find it in System Information under USB.) It would be handy if Apple were to display a notification warning the user…

At its WWDC 2022 keynote presentation, Apple unveiled a new 13in MacBook Pro. Here we spill the beans on the launch, covering its release date, design, and more. RELEASE DATE The new MacBook Pro was announced, somewhat out of the blue, at WWDC, but it isn’t available to buy quite yet. Right now the relevant button on Apple’s store is labelled ‘View pricing’ instead of ‘Buy’. We’re not sure exactly when this will change, but Apple says it will arrive “next month”. So clear some space in your budget for July 2022. DESIGN Here’s the first disappointment. Unlike the MacBook Air which launched at the same event (see page 22), Apple’s new Pro is visually unchanged. It’s the same design as before. You get the same ports, the same weight…

Apple announced its big yearly operating system updates in its WWDC keynote. No platform is bigger, or more important to Apple and its users, than the iPhone and thus no OS update is more important than iOS. After a successful reception to iOS 15 in 2021, iOS 16 was expected to add plenty of new features, and didn’t disappoint. In this article we spill the beans on everything you need to know about iOS 16 and how it’s going to affect your iPhone experience. RELEASE DATE iOS 16 was unveiled and demonstrated at WWDC on 6 June. We expect it to be released to the public in September 2022. But this is speculation; Apple has so far said only that it will launch in the autumn. Last year iOS 15…

At its annual WWDC kick-off keynote, Apple unveiled the latest version of watchOS 9 with a handful of new features designed to keep you healthier and more connected. Here are the top features coming to your Apple Watch this autumn. NEW WATCH FACES It wouldn’t be a watchOS update without new watch faces. This year Apple has four new ones, including a ‘completely remastered’ classic face. Here’s how Apple describes the new faces: Lunar: Depicts the relationship between the Gregorian calendar and lunar calendar, used in many cultures such as Chinese, Islamic and Hebrew. Playtime: A dynamic piece of art that’s unique to Apple Watch and created in collaboration with artist Joi Fulton. Metropolitan: A classic, type-driven watch face where the style changes as the Digital Crown is rotated. Astronomy:…

Apple’s no stranger to killing off old technology. The original iMac famously did away with not only legacy ports but also shuffled the floppy disk right off this mortal coil. Elsewhere, the company has been aggressive about transitioning to solid-state storage and Retina-quality displays, with little to no compunction for the old hardware they replace (and with good reason). All of this is to say that Apple typically doesn’t count nostalgia as an asset. Recently, rumours have pointed to another feature that may find itself on the chopping block: the Lightning connector that debuted on the iPhone 5 in 2012. Speculation would have it replaced by USB-C, which has already replaced the proprietary port on several iPad models, as well as being the de facto connector on modern Macs. While…

One of the world’s leastexciting sentences is, ‘Let’s talk about technology standards’. But I promise I’m not digging down into wiring schematics, pin-out diagrams, and 1,000-page protocol descriptions. Rather, I want to help you get up to speed on how USB and Thunderbolt work separately and together so you know how you can best use them – and troubleshoot them when incompatibilities arise. The path forward relies on the latest standards: Thunderbolt 4 and USB4. While not perfectly compatible with each other, they are nearly so. Most importantly, the two standards have effectively converged on a single cable type you can purchase and use almost universally with Thunderbolt 3 or 4, and USB 3.1, 3.2 and USB4 via USB-C. USB: THE ONCE AND FUTURE UNIVERSAL STANDARD USB was at one…

Price: Free from the Mac App Store QR Factory from Tunabelly Software generates single QR codes from values you type in, and can batch process data exported from a spreadsheet or database. With batch processing, you can create individual code files or PDFs formatted for commonly-used adhesive label sheets and label printers. The app lets you customize QR codes by including a logo in the centre, tweaking the colour and border, adding a text label, adjusting the error correction level (which increases or decreases the code’s complexity), and setting the output resolution. It’s a lot of code-generating power in one place. The app fills in a gaping hole between the utility of QR codes and generating them. In 2009, I thought QR codes were the oncoming future. These 2D codes,…

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR MAC’S INTERNAL STORAGE RUNS OUT Once upon a time, Apple made it easy to crack open a Mac, remove a hard drive, and replace it with a new one when the old drive was no longer working, too slow, or of insufficient capacity. Those days are long gone for most Macs, leaving readers to wonder what the best path forward is. You have effectively three options: • Check online guides to see how difficult it is to replace an internal drive. Depending on the model, it may be relatively easy for Macs released through 2014. For instance, a 2014 MacBook Pro requires just unscrewing the back case, unscrewing the SSD, and replacing it with an Apple-compatible SSD. • Consider hiring a shop to upgrade your…

Raise a glass for the iPod, a line of devices that revolutionized portable music more than two decades ago. Apple has announced that the iPod touch will no longer be produced. The current model, introduced in 2019, will still be sold while supplies last. It starts at £199 for 32GB. The iPod touch was the last of the iPod line – essentially an iPhone SE with an A10 processor and no cellular connectivity. It was an iPod in name, but Music was just one of the many apps filling the home screen. The iPod has a long history, transforming the company when it debuted in 2001. At the time, it was the rare Apple product that wasn’t a Mac – though it did need one to transfer music. The iPod…

Apple has revealed some of the new features coming to macOS later this year. During its WWDC keynote, the tech giant revealed the name of the next version of macOS as well as details of new innovations and updates to its Mac apps Mail, Safari, and more. RELEASE DATE We expect Ventura to arrive in late October. In 2021, macOS Monterey was released on 25 October, so expect a similar time frame. BETA RELEASE DATE Now that Apple has previewed the new macOS, the developer beta is available now. Public beta testers will also be able to sign up to try out the beta when it arrives in July. COMPATIBILITY Apple has confirmed that the following Macs will be supported: MacBook: 2017 or later. MacBook Air: 2018 or later. MacBook…

WDC saw Apple introduce a redesigned MacBook Air with an M2 chip. The new look had been expected, although Apple hasn’t introduced the colour pallet that had been anticipated based on rumours. RELEASE DATE Apple has confirmed the new Air will start shipping in July. PRICE £1,249: Apple M2 chip, 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD £1,549: Apple M2 chip, 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD NEW COLOURS It will be available in silver, Starlight, Space Grey and Midnight. DESIGN The new MacBook Air has a flat design and is just 11.3mm thick, compared to 4.1-16.1mm. Sure the tapered edge was narrower, but over all the design is thinner than it was. DIMENSIONS The MacBook Air is slightly wider than the previous model, but benefits from a larger display – 13.6in rather…

This autumn, iOS 16 will once again change the way a billion people use their iPhones. Apple gave the world its first look at the new update at WWDC earlier this month, and developers will be able to download and begin working with a beta version today. In a few weeks, a public beta will let you test it as well, though you should expect some bugs and missing features, so proceed with caution. There are dozens of new features and changes coming in iOS 16, but these are the big-ticket items that have us excited the most. 1. LOCK SCREEN CUSTOMIZATION The breakout new feature of iOS 16 has got to be the new lock screen, which lets you customize the look and information in a way you never…

For those devoted to Apple and the Mac, WWDC is the event to watch. Even more than the annual autumn event, the WWDC keynote is where Apple often makes major announcements that impact developers, users, and the industry. The WWDC keynote showcases the next versions of macOS, and Apple often reveals major Mac hardware developments that go hand in hand with the latest software features. WWDC as we know it started in 1990; in previous years, it was a smaller event called DevCon or Apple World. Now that WWDC22 is over, we thought we’d go over the top Mac moments in WWDC keynote history (listed in chronological order, except the last one, and you’ll see why). Overall, there’s a theme to these moments: change is inevitable. WWDC 1997: STEVE JOBS…

Whether you’re making the jump into the Apple ecosystem or updating from an older machine, picking up a new Mac can be a great way to supercharge your productivity. How do you decide which type of Mac is right for you? With so many options to choose from, as well as different types of Macs, finding one that fits your set-up and delivers everything you need can be tricky. If you’re going to pick up a new Mac, then going with a desktop Mac has some distinct advantages over Apple’s portable MacBook options. Don’t get us wrong, all of these machines are capable of doing what you need them to do, but there are some places where the desktop Macs shine brighter than the MacBooks. As such, here are five…

Price: Free with macOS Mac owners don’t have to look far for a free PDF editor. Apple Preview, a fixture of every version of macOS, offers a full slate of tools for working with PDFs. Apple doesn’t exactly advertise Preview’s PDF capabilities. Aside from a text highlighting tool on the main toolbar, the app looks like a simple image editor. Tapping the tiny pencil-tip icon to the left of the search bar, though, reveals a full set of mark-up tools. These include tools for adding text and shapes, redacting content, making freehand drawings, inserting sticky notes, and capturing your signature using your trackpad, camera or iPhone. You open a PDF in Preview as you would any image file. Thumbnails of each page are automatically displayed in the left sidebar and…

The brittleness of the Apple ID account management system can lead to some funny but common situations. Picture the following that a reader asked about: • You share an Apple ID with someone else or more than one person. • You use iCloud email aliases to allow each of you to have your own account in effect. • But you now want separate Apple IDs. What happens to the email address? And all the stuff you’ve collectively purchased? There’s a solution for both. FORWARD YOUR iCLOUD EMAIL Whether an iCloud address is in use for email or as the primary/login email on an Apple ID account, you can’t migrate it to another account. But you can forward incoming email by filtering on the alias. That’s what some people already do…

The first foldable iPhone may be years away, but Apple is already thinking of ways to set it apart from its competitors. According to the latest rumours, that also applies to the parts that don’t fold. Noted analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reports that Apple may turn to E Ink technology for the foldable phone’s outside display in an effort to conserve power. Most foldables utilize a standard OLED display for their socalled ‘cover screen’, which operates like a normal smartphone for tasks that don’t need a bigger screen. For example, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 has a 6.23in outer OLED display with a 120Hz variable refresh rate. Apple is testing E Ink’s Electronic Paper Display (EPD) for future foldable device’s cover screen & tablet-like applications. The colour EPD has the potential…

As we’ve already seen, Apple has announced that its next macOS will be called Ventura and will be available to download in the autumn. It will feature a ton of new features, but here are our favourites. 1. STAGE MANAGER Mac users tend to work in multiple apps and files at once, which leads to dozens of open windows. You can use Mission Control to sort your windows, but it’s still overwhelming to find the one you need. The new Stage Manager helps you get control of those windows. Stage Manager can be activated in Control Centre, and it places your active window in the centre of the display, with thumbnails of your other windows placed in a vertical row off to the side. When you click on a thumbnail,…

In 2020, Apple began using its own desktop processors in its Macs, starting with the arrival of the M1 processor in the MacBook Air, 13in MacBook Pro, Mac mini and 24in iMac. We’ve since seen the debut of the higher-end versions in the form of the M1 Max and M1 Pro, which arrived in the 14in MacBook Pro and 16in MacBook Pro in October 2021, and finally the M1 Ultra, which debuted with the new Mac Studio in March. As with the M1, the M2 will be aimed at consumers rather than professionals. Its focus is on energy efficiency as well as general performance enhancements over the M1 it will replace. While the manufacturing process will remain at 5 nanometres, the M2 uses the second-generation 5nm technology, as expected. TSMC’s…

We’ve been saying it for years: the iPad is a phenomenally powerful and flexible piece of hardware that’s being held back by iPadOS. In 2019, Apple officially split iOS and iPadOS, signalling that the tablets software would grow in its own direction, and we’ve been waiting for that to bear fruit ever since. With iPadOS 16, we’re getting the first real big step in that direction. There are dozens of new features big and small, but these are the four biggest things that could change the way you use your iPad. Remember, iPad is getting many of the new features found in iOS like SharePlay in Messages, Live Text updates, iCloud Shared Photo Library, and so on. These are the features particular to iPadOS that have us most excited. STAGE…

The Mac operating system that we use today was introduced 21 years ago. Whether you’ve been using the Mac longer than that or just bought your first M1 MacBook, macOS is a vast operating system and there are tons of tucked-away features that you can take advantage of to help you get stuff done. Here are 10 macOS tips and features you may not know or have forgotten about that can help you get more out of your Mac. Some of these are old, some just arrived in the past year, but all of them are incredibly handy to have in your arsenal. 1. REARRANGE MENU BAR ICONS The menu bar is a good way to quickly access frequently-used settings and other functions. To get the most out of it,…

If you are thinking of buying a new Mac, then a MacBook is a great option. Here are five great reasons why you should choose a MacBook over a desktop Mac. 1. MOBILE WORKSTATION It almost goes without saying that one of the biggest advantages to choosing a MacBook is portability. The MacBook Air and MacBook Pro are extremely easy to pick up and transport and they are perfect for anyone who finds themselves travelling for work, or is just looking for a way to be able to move from a desk to a kitchen counter or even a couch. Apple does have desktops that are relatively light and easy to move – and apparently, using an iMac as a portable computer is a thing. You don’t have to be…

Price: Free from the Mac App Store For those who work across nations, whether from a desk or travelling by car, plane, train or bus, keeping track of local differences can be a bear to memorize and prepare for. Even European Union countries that have adopted the Euro vary in electrical plug types, languages and time zones. Morpho from Think Tap Work combines every useful fact and conversion into an app, letting you set countries, currencies, and units you use preferentially as pinned items or presets. You can figure out the right AC adapters to pack, the country code for calling attached to the SIM you get when you arrive, and whether to drive on the left or right side of the road. But you can also use the app…

A network is great, but what if you just want to connect two Macs and transfer bits of information as fast as you can? Using a gigabit Ethernet cable or a Mac with 802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5) or later wireless networking hardware, you can transfer data between two devices at gigabit per second rates, but you can do better than that. Apple offers four built-in methods in macOS, none of which are obvious to set up. Each of them has different requirements, advantages, and tradeoffs. Once connected, you use the same tools to transfer information between two Macs as you would if they were connected to a network: SMB file sharing: In the Finder, choose Go > Connect to Server (Command-K) and click Browse. If the Mac doesn’t appear in the…