Table of contents for Issue 130 in iPad & iPhone User

Tech companies (especially Apple) want us to use the latest products they have to offer. They want to make money from the sales, but they also develop and implement new technology that older devices can’t support at all (or can’t support it in a way that’s acceptable to the user). Eventually, each product’s time runs out, as is now the case with the first-generation Apple TV. Apple has released a support document that states the first-generation Apple TV will not be able to access the iTunes Store starting on 25 May. This model Apple TV (considered obsolete by Apple) will not be updated to support the new security features will be used with the iTunes Store. To access the iTunes Store, you need a second-generation or later Apple TV. iTunes…

Price: £319 inc VAT from fave.co/2F06Jre The HomePod is Apple’s smart speaker that’s controlled using Siri and designed primarily for high-quality music playback. It’s taken its sweet time to arrive, but arrive it has and our ears have decided that it was worth the wait. Naturally, this isn’t merely an AirPlay speaker. With Siri built in, you can use it for many other tasks – just as you can with Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s Assistant. From checking the weather and sports scores to setting reminders, alarms and timers, Siri is a pretty capable assistant. It can also control all your HomeKit devices, such as lights, heating and switches. As you’d expect, the HomePod is very much an Apple product. It’s designed to work within the Apple ecosystem and it does…

As we saw last month, iOS allows you to adjust every aspect of your iPhone or iPad. In the second and final part of our guide to iOS, we look at iCloud, apps and downloads. iCloud settings The iCloud Drive App, and how to hide it iCloud Drive is a bit like Finder on the Mac, as it allows you to view all the files and folders that you have stored within your free 5GB of iCloud storage. That’s great if – like me – you constantly need to transfer work files between multiple devices running different apps when you’re on the move. However, the iCloud Drive app might be a little confusing for people who aren’t familiar with cloud services such as iCloud or Dropbox. And if you ever…

This issue we’ve a bunch of exciting iOS game releases. Long-awaited games like snowboarding (well, sandboarding) sequel Alto’s Odyssey and epic role-player Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition were the biggest releases of this past month, but they’re hardly alone on this list. Other games like the heartbreaking Florence, hilarious Run Gun Sports, and super-charming Bring You Home might not have quite the same stature as those aforementioned games, but they’re all well worth a look. 1. Alto’s Odyssey Price: £4.99 from fave.co/2owqPiy Even three years after its debut, Alto’s Adventure remains one of our go-to games on iOS and Apple TV, but now the long-awaited Alto’s Odyssey is here to take its place. Like the original, Alto’s Odyssey is a side-scrolling snowboarding game with dazzling sights and a really chill…

You already know you can change Siri’s voice on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. So it stands to reason that you can make Siri sound different on HomePod, too. You have similar voice options on HomePod, but you find the settings in a different place. If you want to give Siri on HomePod a man’s voice or an Australian accent, here’s what you do: 1. Open the Home app and look for your HomePod in the Favourite Accessories list. 2. Long-press (or 3D touch) on the HomePod you wish you change. 3. Tap Details at the bottom of the screen. 4. Scroll down to the Siri section. Here you’ll find Siri’s Language and the Siri Voice menu. 5. Tap Siri Voice and choose the accent and gender you wish to…

Internet trolls had a great time causing Apple products to freeze recently thanks to a bug involving a specific character from India’s Telugu language. Fortunately, the party’s over now, as Apple released a barrage of updates that patch the issue on iPhones, iPads, Macs, Apple Watches, and Apple TV boxes. Take our word for it: update your devices now. You’re most likely to encounter the bug on your iPhone and iPad, so be sure to get the iOS 11.2.6 patch on your device straight away. Apple has had to deal with some high-profile bugs in the past few months, but this one, while obscure, was particularly nasty. All someone had to do was send a message with the specific character to an app like Messages, and the app would freeze…

Apple’s HomePod is primarily a music playback machine. And it’s got Siri, which means it can do obvious things like set timers, take notes, and tell you what the weather is going to be tomorrow. But it can do more. It’s no Echo or Google Home in its flexibility, but HomePod has a few neat tricks up its... um... power cord. Here are some of the things you might not know HomePod can do. 1. Precisely control the volume You know you can say “turn the volume up” or “volume down”, but you can be exact if you want to. Try saying “turn the volume to 65 percent”. The same principle applies to music tracks. “Skip forward” and “next track” are obvious commands, but to can also say, “Skip forward…

We’ve come a long way since portable music was a whirring tape constantly in threat of being eaten by a brick-sized cassette player. And having long since blazed past Apple’s original iPod that could “put 1000 songs in your pocket”, many people now want all of their music everywhere, at any point, regardless of the device they’re using at the time. And now that the HomePod has arrived, many are wondering whether to sign up for Apple Music, or if there is a cheaper option to get access to their iTunes Music collection on that device. Apple provides a number of means of accessing such collections among which are Apple Music and iTunes Match, subscription services that put your iTunes in the Cloud, and make use of iCloud Music Library,…

Compared to most smart speakers, getting started with the HomePod is easy. There are no extra apps to install, no calibration steps to undertake. Before you get started, you’ll want to make sure you meet the requirements: the HomePod requires an iPhone (5s or newer) or iPad (mini 2 or Air or newer) to complete the setup process. A 6th generation iPod touch will work, too. Preparing for setup 1. Make sure your iOS device is running iOS 11.2.5 or newer. 2. Your HomePod will be attached to your iCloud account, so you should make sure that is set up, too (and turn on two-factor authentication). Setting up HomePod 1. Plug in HomePod and wait for the light on top to glow. 2. Bring your iOS setup device (iPhone or…

The HomePod doesn’t behave like most other Apple devices. Unlike the Apple Watch, there’s no dedicated app. It supports AirPlay, so it shows up in the list of audio sources – but it’s also remote-controllable like an Apple TV. And to configure it, you don’t visit the Settings app, but the Home app. Here’s a quick guide to where and how you can control the HomePod from your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. Controlling from Control Centre in iOS Soon after I got home with my HomePod, I found myself sitting on my sofa while the HomePod played music from a few feet away. I realized that while I could call out a command to make the HomePod slightly louder, that would make a noise and disturb everyone else in the…

It’s rare that Apple fans cheer a lack of new features in an upcoming product, but that may be the case with the next round of iPhone updates. After a flurry of embarrassing bugs in this year’s release of iOS, Apple is reportedly scaling back its plans for iOS 12 as it shifts its focus to quality and performance. And iPhone users should applaud this decision. What’s new iOS 12 will certainly add new features, just not as many as planned. That is, if some experts are to be believed. Features on the chopping block A report on news and information website Axios says VP of software engineering Craig Federighi told employees that Apple will delay several features originally due to land in iOS 12. It’s thought a number of…

Welcome to our complete guide to iPhone security, where you’ll find essential tips to protect the sensitive data on your iPhone from the prying eyes of hackers. In 2016, headlines focused on Apple and the FBI’s battle to hack or unlock an iPhone. It caused concerns about the safety of private data on an iPhone, as they store a variety of sensitive information including website logins, email addresses, text messages and even photos and videos. While iOS is pretty secure, there are ways to make sure that your iPhone is as secure from hackers as it can be – and here is where we show you how. 1. Keep iOS up to date Our first tip on securing your iPhone against potential hackers is a fairly simple one – make…

A password manager can make life a great deal easier. Rather than having to remember increasingly complex login details for a myriad of apps and sites, you simply use one solitary password to access the manager app itself, which then takes care of the rest. They can also create new, complex passwords for your accounts; ones that will be far more secure than the current combination of birthdays, pets and children’s names that you might be using. We’ve gathered together a selection of the current offerings for iPhone, any of which will take your security up several levels. What is a password manager? As the name suggests, these apps are a way to manage the account details for any app or service you use online. They act as a secure…

Currently, HomePod works with only one Apple ID. If you want to switch to someone else’s account, you have to reset your HomePod and set it up with a different iOS device. You’ll also want to reset your HomePod if you plan to give it away or sell it, if you need to send it to be serviced, or if some technical problem is preventing it from responding. You can reset HomePod using the Home app on an iOS device with the same Apple ID, or on the HomePod itself. Using the Home app You can reset HomePod using the iOS Home app that’s attached to the same Apple account as the HomePod. Just follow these steps. 1. Open the Home app. 2. Find your HomePod in Favourite Accessories or…

If you have an Apple Music subscription already you will have access to 45 million songs that can be played from your HomePod. You don’t have to have a subscription to use the HomePod, though. You could stream your iTunes library (as long as you have a subscription to iTunes Match and have turned on iTunes in the Cloud). You don’t have to pay for any subscription though: you can also use AirPlay to stream music directly from your iPhone to the HomePod, from iTunes, Spotify, Tidal or Amazon Music, for example. Follow the steps below to stream music from your iPhone or iPad straight to the HomePod via AirPlay. Stream music using AirPlay It should be simple to stream music to your HomePod from any app, not just iTunes.…