Table of contents for 167 in iPad & iPhone User

If you want your next iPhone to have a fingerprint scanner you may be pleased to learn that Apple has filed a patent for tech described as: “Under-display fingerprint sensing based on off-axis angular light”. Essentially under screen Touch ID. While this won’t be the news that fans of the Home button were hoping for (they’ll still have to make do with the iPhone SE or an old iPhone 8) it does mean that if you prefer not to have to rely on Face ID an alternative may be available to you. Apple reveals how the technology works in the patent application, filed on 18 March 2021. Apple describes a method that will recognize fingerprints both quickly and securely. There is no indication that the fingerprint reader will replace the…

Typically, Apple stays quiet about its future processors, preferring to announce them along with a new product. For example, we didn’t get specifics about the M1 until Apple unveiled the new MacBooks powered by it and we knew very little about the A14 before it showed up in the iPad Air. So, we probably won’t hear about the A15, the first of a new generation of Apple system-on-chips (SoCs), until Apple unveils the iPhone 13 later this year. However, we can still piece together a picture of our possible future. By studying the trend for past A-series processors and what we know about cutting-edge silicon manufacturing, along with a few educated guesses, we can get a pretty good idea of what to expect from the A15. STILL 5NM, BUT ENHANCED…

Apple’s updated iPhone SE is the only iPhone it sells that has a home button. Just like the original iPhone SE, which was a rebooted iPhone 5s, the 2020 iPhone SE is basically an iPhone 8 with new guts. But even if you can find a refurbished iPhone 8 for half the price of a £399 iPhone SE, here’s why you should spend extra on an SE. DESIGN, DISPLAY AND SIZE The iPhone SE and iPhone 8 are identical in size and shape (138.4x67.3x7.3mm) and both weigh 148g. They both have a single rear camera and vertically aligned flash along with a glass back. The only difference is the position of the Apple logo, which is slightly lower on the SE to match the iPhone 11. The SE also comes…

For years now, the performance of iPhones has run circles around high-end Android phones. Combine that with great battery efficiency and a huge catalogue of great games (including some Apple Arcade exclusives), and the iPhone may just be the best mobile gaming platform around. Honestly, every iPhone made in the past few years will have no trouble running even the most demanding mobile games. But if you’re serious enough about phone gaming to make it a priority in your buying decision, you don’t want ‘good enough’, you want the best. BEST iPHONE FOR GAMING: iPHONE 12 PRO MAX Any iPhone will play casual games well. If you want to play high-end premium games with more advanced 3D graphics and sound, performance matters. All iPhones have the super-fast A14 chip,…

Anew iPad Pro might be mere weeks away, and we already know a lot about it. While it probably won’t getting a new design, Apple could be bringing a slew of important changes, including a mini LED display for OLED-like colours and power efficiency, better cameras and 5G support. But the most important change might be a surprising one: the processor. Of course, we fully expect the iPad Pro is in line for a faster processor. Even though it’s only been less than a year since it was updated, the iPad Pro is currently the second-fastest tablet Apple makes behind the iPad Air, putting Apple’s flagship tablet in the odd position of being slower and more expensive. A new processor will give the iPad Pro its rightful position at the…

With each major update of iOS, Apple tightens the screws on apps and services that seek to violate your privacy in order to turn a buck. iOS 14 is no different, with several very visible new features to help you better understand and control how your data is accessed. With iOS 13, Apple introduced major changes to location tracking, Safari tracking protections, and the Sign in with Apple feature, among others. You might think your iPhone and iPad already do a great job of protecting your data, but there’s apparently plenty more Apple can do, because the privacy features of iOS 14 are numerous and substantial (they’re duplicated in iPadOS 14, too). Here are the highlights. 1. MIC AND CAMERA ACCESS LIGHTS Any time an app access your mic,…

If you’re not using iCloud Keychain on your iPhone, you should definitely turn it on. A full-fledged password manager built into iOS and macOS, it stores all of your sensitive information with end-to-end encryption and syncs it across all of your Apple devices. But even if you’re already using it to store logins to apps, Apple Pay info and other online passwords, you might not be getting all you can out of it. Here’s how to get the most out of Apple’s password manager – and why you don’t want to rely on it for all of your data storage needs. HOW TO SET UP iCLOUD KEYCHAIN If you have an iPhone, you have an iCloud account, and if you have an iCloud account, you have iCloud Keychain. If you…

As we’ve already seem (page 47), Apple has announced it is to discontinue the full-sized version of its HomePod smart speaker. This came a couple of days after the Space Grey model had already been listed as out of stock, prompting theories about a possible refresh to the product. Perhaps more surprising than the demise of the HomePod, however, is that this does not actually mark the end of Apple’s smart speaker ambitions. The three-year-old HomePod is survived by its smaller and less-costly sibling, the £99 HomePod mini, introduced last autumn. There are myriad reasons why the HomePod failed, chief amongst which were a late start in the category, mistaking what exactly the market wanted out of such a device and a high asking price. But what makes this change…

Apple has reportedly cut orders for all iPhones by about 20 per cent compared to the company’s plans as of December, the majority of which will come from the 12 mini. Several vendors have also been asked to temporarily stop producing mini-specific components. In total, Apple will aim for a production of 75 million iPhone devices during the first half of the year, which is slightly higher than in the same period last year. Looking at the whole of 2021, the plan is to manufacture 230 million iPhones, an increase of 11 per cent on 2020.…

You’ve decided that it’s finally time to switch to an iPhone. Maybe it’s the value you get in the £399 iPhone SE. Maybe you’re more concerned about privacy, or you’re tired of buying phones that only get operating system updates a year or two. Maybe you have a Mac, and want a phone that works seamlessly with it. Whatever the reason, we’re here to help make your transition from Android to iPhone as smooth as possible. Grab your old Android phone and your new iPhone and let’s make the switch. TRANSFER DATA FROM ANDROID USING THE MOVE TO iOS APP Apple’s got a fancy marketing page all about why you should switch from Android to iPhone (fave.co/3vPvugp). It’s more hype than usable advice, but the Apple does make a great…

If you’re an iPhone user that prefers small phones, you’ve got better options than you’ve had in years. The iPhone SE was just updated in 2020, taking the smallest (at the time) iPhone and boosting its specs considerably. Then, Apple surprised us during the iPhone 12 launch with a new fourth model, the iPhone 12 mini, which is about the same size as the SE. Now, small phone fans have two modern iPhones to choose from at opposite ends of the spectrum. So which one is best for you? FEATURES Here are the top-line differences in features and specs between the two. There are plenty of smaller differences, but these features and specs will give you an idea of how they stack up against each other. iPhone 12 mini Starting…

The old trope that old people are hopelessly illiterate when it comes to technology is somewhat unwarranted. The home computer revolution is decades old at this point, and smartphones have been around for over 15 years. Seniors may not operate their smartphones as adroitly as their grandchildren, but they aren’t just sitting around pining for the days of rotary dial phones. Social media has, in particular, provided a way for seniors to more easily keep in touch with family and connect with friends, and smartphones help make it all possible. It’s also an increasingly important part of health-care services. In other words, seniors need iPhones, too, but they have may have unique needs. They’re often on fixed incomes, and may have difficulty reading small text, or suffer from arthritis or…

It’s officially spring now, which is when the Internet’s fancy turns to rumours of 2021’s first Apple announcements. Over the past few years, Apple has generally released at least some new products in early spring, and there’s no reason to think that this year will diverge substantially from this point. Most of the attention in recent weeks has focused on updates to the iPad. That’s not terribly surprising: though Apple updated both the iPad Air and base-level iPad last autumn, the iPad Pro received only a minor speed bump last spring, with the addition of the A12Z processor – far overshadowed by the addition of cursor support and the release of the Magic Keyboard. But that modest update has created a strange state of affairs where the current top-of-the-line Pro…

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 best offerings for iPhone. If you’re interested in making your iPhone browsing more secure, then check out our best VPN guide on page 66. WHAT IS A PASSWORD MANAGER? As the name suggests, these apps are a way to manage the account details for any app…

Family members recently reported to me that they got a pop-up message on their iPhones and Macs asking them to re-enter their Apple ID password for the account associated with iCloud. I’ve seen with my own eyes and I have no idea how widespread this is, but it was peculiar to see it so close to home (literally). Fortunately, I have spread scepticism about entering one’s password into a random pop-up and both my wife and father asked me if these requests were legitimate. These may say ‘Apple ID Verification’, and they appear over the Home screen in iOS/iPadOS, and as a system pop-up window in macOS. You can imagine that malware that could create something similar would be an effective – if short-lived – way to phish for people’s…

In a recent report from Bloomberg, Mark Gurman revealed that the HomePod mini has tiny a sensor to measure temperature and humidity that, so far, lies dormant. Why is it there? Why isn’t it turned on? Will it ever be? With a company as secretive as Apple, we may never know the answers to these questions. As we’ve already seen, Apple has discontinued the original HomePod, focusing instead on the HomePod mini. The mini has a U1 chip and supports the new Thread protocol, but those are apparently not the only features it has that the original HomePod lacks. The HomePod mini also apparently carries a tiny temperature and humidity sensor in its outer shell. Its existence was first reported by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who then asked the experts at…

Apple is good at lots of things, but perhaps its most undervalued corporate quality is a willingness to kill its babies. From the optical drive to FireWire and the headphone port, and recently the iMac Pro and the HomePod, few companies are smarter at recognizing the exact moment when a beloved product or popular feature is about to outlive its usefulness, nor as unsentimental about discontinuing it when this happens. Apple needs to use this superpower now and put a halt to the iPhone mini project before things get out of hand. THE CASE FOR A MINI iPHONE The iPhone 12 mini made perfect sense at the time. There appeared to be a gap in the market: people with small hands, small pockets and small budgets appeared to be underserved,…

Apple has updated its iWork suite of productivity apps with helpful new features and tweaks that make the apps easier to use. Most notably, the iOS apps now have ‘Precise editing controls in the Arrange Inspector’ to make it easier to fine-tune projects without a Mac. The update to version 11 affects the iPad, iPhone and Mac versions of Keynote, Numbers and Pages. The apps jumped to version 10 last March from 8.2.1. According to the release notes, the iOS iWork apps all have the following updates: • Precise editing controls in the Arrange Inspector for adjusting the look and placement of objects • Setting to always open documents in edit mode • On-screen keypads for entering exact values for text size, spacing, table size, and more • Ability to…

We all know how easy it is to share photos with friends and family who also use Apple Photos. But when you throw an Android or PC user into the mix, things get a little more complicated. Since they won’t be able to view an iCloud Shared Album, you’ll need to take a few extra steps to be sure they can see your photos. There are a couple of issues at play here. First, of course, is that they don’t have an iPhone so they can’t use Apple Photos. The other issue stems from the format Apple uses on newer iPhones. Since iOS 11, Apple has used HEIF (High Efficiency Image File Format) for photos and HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding) for videos since they take up less space. It’s…

Every year without fail, Apple delivers one of the best cameras on any smartphone in its newest iPhone. Basically any iPhone you buy – even the older ones – will snap excellent photos and record videos that are unsurpassed. It’s that consistency, along with the popularity of Macs among photo and video professionals, that makes the iPhone so popular among photographers and videographers. Whether you’re a pro or just an enthusiast, the iPhone that is best for photography is almost always the newest one – but which model should a photography enthusiast buy? BEST iPHONE FOR PHOTOGRAPHY: iPHONE 12 PRO MAX It will be a surprise to no one that the this years’ iPhones produce better photos and videos than the ones introduced the year before. And when the…

Let’s face it: children want iPhones. Their favourite celebrities are seen using them, they see their parents using them, and some of their friends have them. But which iPhone is best for your child? There are lots of factors to consider, not the least of which is the age of the child in question. Whatever iPhone you get, you should consider using Screen Time to manage their use. Built into iOS, Screen Time lets you set limits on how long your children can use their phone, what apps they can download and use, and when they need to put it down for the night. It’s a great way for busy parents to keep tabs on what their children are doing when they’re not within eyeshot, and ought to be the…

Apple has released a minor update to iOS and iPadOS, bringing the version number to 14.4.2. The release notes are as basic as can be: “This update provides important security updates and is recommended for all users.” As for what those security updates are, Apple’s security support site says it’s a WebKit security fix, which means that any app that loads content from the web could be impacted: WEBKIT Available for: iPhone 6s and later, iPad Pro (all models), iPad Air 2 and later, iPad 5th generation and later, iPad mini 4 and later, and iPod touch (7th generation). Impact: Processing maliciously crafted web content may lead to universal cross site scripting. Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited. Description: This issue was…

Apple talks a lot about privacy, but as soon as you start browsing in Safari your movements can be tracked by the websites you visit and your internet service provider, whether you’re connected to Wi-Fi or using 3G, 4G or 5G. Combining all this data, companies can know a lot about you, such as what you buy, where you shop, what you watch, when you go to bed and even if you’re pregnant. Using a VPN can keep all this information private, and it will also prevent anyone snooping on your browsing – or stealing personal information – when your iPhone is connected to public Wi-Fi. A VPN also hides your location, which has a secondary benefit of allowing you to access content and blocked sites such as US Netflix…

In a surprise late night news dump, Apple has killed the original HomePod, marking an ignominious end to the high-priced Siri-powered speaker that struggled to find an audience. Like the iMac Pro, which has also been discontinued (see page 4), the speaker is available ‘while supplies last’. Apple announced HomePod at WWDC in June 2017 with much fanfare and a very high price. Dubbed ‘a breakthrough speaker’ with ‘custom Apple-engineered audio technology’, HomePod was introduced as a high-end audiophile product with spatial awareness for room-filling sound. However, with an initial price tag of £349, a delayed roll-out that missed the holiday shopping season, and a weird issue that left rings on some surfaces, HomePod wasn’t a success. Apple never updated it, opting instead to launch a new HomePod mini last…

We may not yet live in the world of the Smart Home, but we’re getting there. Consumers are starting to outfit their homes with connected lights, locks, alarms, cameras, thermostats, garage doors… the list goes on and on. How is all of this stuff going to work together? Apple’s answer is HomeKit. This quick primer will tell you what HomeKit is, how it works, and how to get started building your smart home around it. WHAT IS HOMEKIT? First announced as part of iOS 8 way back in 2014, HomeKit is a software framework for making smart home stuff work with iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watch. Companies making smart home products have to adhere to specific technical standards and support Apple’s HomeKit software interface and hardware guidelines in order to…