Table of contents for Issue 112 in iPad & iPhone User

Almost two years after the Apple Watch was first unveiled in 2014, Apple has finally pulled the curtain back on its second-generation smartwatch. The Apple Watch Series 2 with dual-core, a brighter display, swim-proof capabilities and built-in GPS was unveiled during Apple’s event. This new model has a redesigned speaker to make it water-resistant down to 50m. Other than that, this updated smartwatch looks near-identical to the first Apple Watch, now known as Apple Watch Series 1, which was only splash-proof. Even though the Apple Watch Series 2 boasts a built-in GPS, it lacks cellular connectivity. This means that you will still need an iPhone nearby for your Series 2 to perform data-heavy operations. The Apple Watch Series 2 comes in conjunction with watchOS 3, which Apple first unveiled this…

Apple’s tax benefits in Ireland are illegal, and the company will have to pay up to €13 billion (£11 billion) in back taxes, plus interest. That’s the verdict European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager delivered recently, wrapping up a two-year investigation of the company’s tax affairs stretching back to 2003. The investigation found that Apple’s effective tax rate on profit reported in Ireland was just €500 per million euros in profit, falling to €50 per million in 2014. “I would have a feeling if my effective tax rate were 0.05 percent, falling to 0.005 percent. I would feel that maybe I should have another look at my tax bill,” said. The Commission looked into tax rulings granted by the Irish government to two Apple subsidiaries, Apple Operations Europe, which makes some Apple…

From £369 inc VAT • apple.com/uk It’s really hard to tell the difference between the new Apple Watch Series 2 models and the originals – the aluminium and steel versions anyway – until you place them side by side. The Series 2 models are ever so slightly thicker than their predecessors. Just a hair, not enough to even complain about, really, and it’s certainly not a deal-breaker. But from Apple, a company with a track record of sacrificing ports and redesigning keyboards in order to make its products thinner and thinner and thinner, the Apple Watch’s extra bulk is a sign that the company is still adding hardware features to find the best mix. In this case, GPS. What remains to be seen – and isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer anyhow…

We’re all used to technology getting better every year: faster processors, better cameras, improved graphics, and so on. But with this year’s updates, Apple’s continuing a trend that it’s increasingly embraced over the past few years, taking advantage of technology getting smaller and more powerful to take more of a holistic approach. Why use one widget when two will do? Nowhere is this approach of parallelism more apparent than in the new iPhone Apple. Realizing that you can’t always have one piece of technology that does it all, they’ve instead decided to combine multiple elements to yield something that’s greater than the sum of its parts. Two cameras are better than one Though the iPhone camera has consistently improved year over year, to the point where the images it can…

Learning to code isn’t supposed to be this fun. Apple’s new Swift Playgrounds app for iPads running iOS 10 is aimed at teaching the Swift programming language to middle-school-age children and adults, no coding experience necessary. But it feels like a puzzle game – one that just happens to be solved with commands and functions and For loops, instead of with a catapult full of birds. And I’m totally hooked. In fact, Swift Playgrounds is my favourite thing to come out of this year’s WWDC by far, and I think it’s going to be one of the highlights of iOS 10 when it’s released. You can try out the free Swift Playgrounds app today by putting the iOS 10 public beta on a compatible iPad (fourth-generation or later). The app…

There are a lot of reasons as to why you want to revert back to iOS 9 after installing iOS 10. It’s not difficult, but you need to do it sooner than later. Each version of iOS is signed (approved) by Apple. When iOS updates are released, the previous version remains signed for a short period of time. Eventually, Apple stops signing the old version, which prevents you from installing it. .ipsw file First, you need to find a file called [iOS device].ipsw. If you are downgrading an iPhone,the file will have a name such as, ‘iPhone8,2_9.3.5_13G36_Restore. ipsw’. Here’s how to find it. • In the Finder, hold down the Option key and select Go > Library • Open the iTunes folder • Look for a Software Updates folder that…

A new version of Pokémon GO is coming to the Apple Watch, together with a new feature that better tracks how far you need to walk before your Pokémon ‘eggs’ hatch within the game. It will ship before the end of the year, John Hanke, the chief executive of Pokémon GO developer Niantic Labs, said at Apple’s iPhone 7 launch event in San Francisco. Thit mobile game for iOS and Android, has been downloaded over 500 million times worldwide, Hanke said. The game uses augmented reality to help players discover Pokémon in the wild, allowing users to “see” Pokémon superimposed over real-world objects. According to the chief executive of Niantic Labs, Pokémon GO is coming to the Apple’s smartwatch, along with a new feature: better egg tracking. One of the…

We knew for a while that, based on reliable reports, the iPhone 7 would not have a traditional headphone jack. The question I had going into Apple’s media event was not if the company would kill the headphone jack, but how it would explain the act. I got my answer and it was actually a whole lot more than I expected. Reason 1: Lightning The versatility of the Lightning port – it can transfer data and power in both directions – was at the top of Apple’s list. Apple’s Phil Schiller described several good reasons why you might prefer a Lightning port on headphones, including the ability to power noise-cancelling headphones without needing batteries. Nobody’s ever said that Lightning isn’t a perfectly fine way to connect headphones – many Lightning-based…

Plenty has been said about how the Apple Watch changes the way we do everything from working out to making purchases. What’s been glossed over is that it’s also ideal for interacting with our homes. Tapping, pressing, swiping and glancing make for a fluid way to access and control smart-home products. And it’s always on your wrist, so you don’t have to dig for it in your pockets when you need to dim the lights or take a peek at the security cameras. Apps abound for connecting with and controlling smart-home appliances. Here are our favourites. Huemote Price: Free A must for Philips Hue users, this third-party app gives you complete remote control of the energy-efficient lighting system. Huemote goes beyond the basic functions of Philips’ official Hue app, enabling…

A reader recently wrote in suspecting that malware had infiltrated his iPhone: “While running a battery app on my iPhone 6, it showed an invisible Chinese program running.” After some back and forth and a bit of research, I found that the free app he’s using, Battery Doctor, doesn’t have a useful purpose and doesn’t offer accurate information. The app claims that it can help with battery management and usage, including providing per-app details about power consumption, and helping prevent an overcharge of an iOS device’s lithium-ion battery. All nonsense. As one of the many techniques it employs to reduce spying and malware, Apple doesn’t expose much information to third-party apps about what’s going on in iOS. I’m unclear why Battery Doctor’s makers released this app and apparently continue to…

The equally vaunted and ridiculed blue checkmarks on Twitter are no longer exclusive to elites or those with connections who have an ‘in’ at Twitter. The company has opened the verified account designation up to all users and put some rules in place for consideration. Many of Twitter’s 310 million monthly active users don’t qualify for verification, but the firm is opening the secretive and invite-only process up to anyone. Accounts of public interest, particularly those maintained by individuals and organisations in “music, acting, fashion, government, politics, religion, journalism, media, sports, business, and other key interest areas” are all up for consideration, according to Twitter. “We hope opening up this application process results in more people finding great, high-quality accounts to follow, and for these creators and influencers to connect…

Apple will try to ease the pain of killing the headphone jack in the iPhone 7, shipping the new smartphone with Lightning-enabled EarPods and an analogue adaptor. “The reason to move on... it really comes down to one word: Courage,” Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller said during the company’s September news event. Schiller explained that abandoning the analogue headphone jack allows Apple to make room for various other technological improvements, such as brighter displays, faster processors, and the iPhone 7’s stereo speakers. The Lightning connection also allows for new headphone features, he said, including adaptive noise cancellation and higher-quality audio without an external power source. Actually Bluetooth Buds While Apple made no explicit mention of Bluetooth when announcing its new AirPods, or any sort of compatibility…

We’re all used to technology getting better every year: faster processors, improved graphics, and so on. But with this year’s updates, Apple’s continuing a trend that it’s increasingly embraced over the past few years, taking advantage of technology getting smaller and more powerful to take more of a holistic approach. Why use one widget when two will do? 1. Facial recognition that’s not creepy In iOS 10, you can search your Photos for specific friends to find the perfect selfies. The Albums tab also has a new People section so you can easily see get all those mugshots in one place. Don’t be disturbed by being able to search for familiar faces on your iPhone. Apple has made sure that the iPhone analyses only the photos that are stored locally…

Two months ago, I promised myself that I would learn another language. So, I spent hours researching different iOS apps, both free and paid, before deciding on three to take for a spin: Duolingo, which is free to use, plus Babbel and Rosetta Stone, both of which come with a brief trial period, but require a monthly subscription thereafter. I dedicated myself to using each app for 20 minutes a day, on my iPhone or iPad, for two months, with the intention of uncovering which one I liked the most… or at the very least, which one ticked me off the least. Honourable Mention: Babbel Price: £7.99 for one-month subscription Initially, Babbel (babbel.com/mobile) sounded great: a language-learning app that teaches you between 2,000 to 3,000 words for each language it…

This month, I look at a question about bookmarking audiobook files, help solve a problem with iTunes media on an external hard drive and an issue with app updates in iTunes, and then discuss Apple’s cloud offerings for music. Don’t forget Q: Is there any way to set the Remember Playback Position option so it is on by default for all new tracks? I listen to a lot of audiobooks, and I have to manually set that option each time I add new books to my iTunes library. If iTunes could do that automatically for all new loaded files, it would make life easier. A: This is an essential setting for listening to audiobooks. When you check this option (to access it, select a group of tracks, press Command-I, click…

There’s nothing like a late-night chapter of a Kindle book to put me right to sleep, but the glow of my iPhone’s screen tends to keep my wife awake – and if a jarring iOS notification sounds or buzzes, well, that doesn’t help her sleep. While the new Night Shift mode (which finally works even when iOS’s low-power mode is enabled) will supposedly help you sleep by filtering out the brightest colours from your iPhone or iPad’s display, it won’t do much good for a bedfellow who sleeps best in total darkness and silence. I’ve collected a quartet of tips that’ll take Night Shift one step further by dimming your iPhone or iPad screen as much as possible while you read, as well as silencing any intrusive alerts or buzzes.…

The most innovative product Apple released this week isn’t the one people are going to rush out to buy. Sure, the iPhone 7 has snazzy new cameras and Apple Watch has learned a whole new fitness regimen, but the biggest new product unveiled this week is actually the one small enough to get lost in your pocket. Despite the quirky design that makes it look like your ears are smoking mini e-cigs, AirPods are unmistakably an Apple product. It may look like Jony Ive merely severed the cord on a pair of EarPods, but the tiny buds are packed with cutting-edge features. From how they pair to the smart way they handle your tunes, Apple’s first crack at wireless headphones are as much about showcasing new tech as it is…