Table of contents for Issue 108 in iPad & iPhone User

Apple Music has attracted more than 13 million users in less than one year, but it’s been drawing criticism since its release for being confusing and complex. Rumours suggest that Apple will update Apple Music soon, in order to address some of these issues. Here are six ways Apple can improve Apple Music. 1. Separate streaming from the iTunes library The most interesting aspect of Apple Music, when it was announced, was the ability to merge my iTunes library with the vast amount of music available in the cloud. Unfortunately, it’s the most problematic and confusing part of the service. iCloud Music Library, which manages your music in iTunes and in the cloud, ruined my music library in the early days, and is notorious for changing album artwork and tags.…

The law is a serious business, but sometimes people use it in silly ways. And Apple, being the wealthiest tech company in the world, has got mixed up in more frivolous, convoluted and just plain absurd lawsuits than most. In this article we look back on six of the silliest. Some of these are lawsuits that were essentially groundless and should have never happened in the first place; others were legally sound but ended up drifting into odd areas, or were brought into disrepute by desperate lawyers turning to absurd arguments. Note, also, that while Apple is on the receiving end of a huge number of frivolous lawsuits, there are a number of entries here where Apple – or its legal representatives – are the ones being silly. 1. ‘Butt-Head…

The bigger Instagram gets, the more complicated its app becomes. Indeed, it’s easy to miss some of Instagram’s most clever shortcuts, such as the quickest way to ‘heart’ a photo or preview a snapshot in your feed. There’s also a way to see your geotagged photos on a map – or wipe them off the map, for that matter. You can set your account to private, block unwanted followers, and erase tags of yourself that others have added to their photos. You can even get alerts when your favourite Instagrammers posts new photos – an important feature now that Instagram wants to change the way it arranges recent images in your photo feed. 1. Set your account to private One of the biggest surprises awaiting an Instagram newcomer is the…

The thing about Apple’s financial results is that they lag a month behind reality, so the hottest just-released new products often have little or no impact in the first quarterly report after their release. All of the products Apple introduced on 21 March began shipping on 31 March, while Apple’s fiscal second quarter ended 26 March. So if you’re looking for a sign that the 9.7in iPad Pro or the iPhone SE is doing well in the numbers, you won’t find them. But it’s not all about the numbers. Sometimes it’s about the forecast for next quarter, tidbits of information that Apple executives let out in interviews or during their quarterly conference call with analysts. And on Tuesday we got a hint that Apple has a surprising hit product on…

WWDC, or the Worldwide Developers’ Conference, is a highlight of Apple’s yearly calendar. Due to run from 13 to 17 June, the annual get-together for the company’s software partners (not to mention representatives of the world’s media) always sees Apple unveil a range of new products. This year we’re expecting the latest versions of its operating systems, updates to Siri and Apple Music, and potentially new laptops. Apple Music According to Bloomberg, one of Apple’s focuses at WWDC 2016 will be its music-streaming service, Apple Music, which launched at WWDC 2015 and has received mixed reviews ever since. As we approach its first anniversary, most analysts would agree it has been a qualified success. Apple has established a solid subscriber base, passing 10 million paying users earlier this year, and…

The Night Shift feature in iOS 9.3 lets you adjust the colour temperature of the display, shifting away from blue spectrums of light, in the putative interest of improving sleep. But Apple makes no promises. On its website, Apple notes, “Many studies have shown that exposure to bright blue light in the evening can affect your circadian rhythms and make it harder to fall asleep.” In iOS, the feature is explained with “This may help you get a better night’s sleep.” In fact, this feature likely will have little or no effect on most people. Apple hasn’t misrepresented any of the science, but clinical work done to date doesn’t point a finger right at mobile devices or even larger displays. Night Shift also can’t remove enough blue to make a…

For the most part, the 12.9in iPad Pro is exactly I had hoped it would be. I now use it as my lone laptop, with an iMac often sitting idle on my desk. However, as with nearly everything in life, there’s always room for improvement and Apple’s tablet is not exempt. There are aspects I really love about the iPad Pro as a laptop replacement, and then there are changes I can only hope are made with iOS 10 and a secondgeneration model. Here are eight of those changes, in no particular order. 1. A smarter Smart Connector The iPad Pro’s Smart Connector was originally touted as a way for accessories to connect to the tablet. Power is provided by the iPad, and data is transmitted to the iPad from…

Sure, 16GB of storage sounded like plenty when you first bought your iPhone, but you probably regretted your decision to go with Apple’s cheapest option when those pesky “low storage” warnings started popping up. Indeed, you’d be surprised by how quickly your iPhone or iPad can chew through storage, particularly the tiny 16GB model. Even worse, your iOS device may refuse to install updates or snap any more photos if your handset’s storage is bursting at the seams. One remedy for a jam-packed iPhone or iPad is to, say, simply delete all your songs (which you can always re-sync via iTunes or redownload from the iTunes Store) or trash large swaths or photos and videos. But there are also easier, more painless ways to find a few gigs of breathing…

Siri made the iPhone more responsive with artificial intelligence, but now its founders want to put AI in every device you own. Dag Kittlaus, who cofounded Siri, left Apple five years ago, but now he’s back with a new voice assistant named Viv that he predicts will change the way we interact with not just our phones but our home appliances, cars, and more. Viv has gotten a lot of hype for a product that hasn’t shipped yet, but Kittlaus demonstrated Viv publicly for the first time at the recent TechCrunch Disrupt. Right now, Viv is an iOS app, though it won’t always be. You open the app and ask the assistant questions or issue commands. These can range from basic queries like what the weather forecast looks like, which…

So there you are, running from meeting to meeting on a particularly busy day when you suddenly notice your iPhone’s battery gauge is deep in the red. It’s too late for sensible battery-conservation tips – you need power for your dying handset now, or at least a way to staunch the bleeding. We’ve gathered six tips that’ll help preserve the last precious drops of juice in your phone’s battery, as well as ways to find emergency sources of power while you’re on the road. 1. Turn your handset off and then on again It’s one thing if your phone’s battery is dying simply because you’ve been using it all day without a break. But if you’re watching your battery gauge drop 5 or even 10 percent in a matter of…

Released in autumn 2014, iOS 8 brought with it a truckload of new features – one of which was the ability to swap out Apple’s built-in keyboard with one of your choosing supplied by a third-party developer. After all, the stock keyboard isn’t for everyone, and it has its fair share of shortcomings. If you’ve never tried a new keyboard, now’s a good time to explore your options, and making the switch is a fairly easy process. Here’s how to go about it. Before we begin, a note about privacy Since third-party keyboards can access anything you type in, there are some privacy risks inherent to using such a piece of software. As Apple notes in a privacy disclaimer nestled in the Settings app, third-party keyboards may be able to…