Table of contents for 119 in iPad & iPhone User

A group of hackers threatening to wipe data from Apple devices attached to millions of iCloud accounts didn’t obtain whatever log-in credentials they have through a breach of the company’s services, Apple said. “There have not been any breaches in any of Apple’s systems including iCloud and Apple ID,” an Apple representative said. “The alleged list of email addresses and passwords appears to have been obtained from previously compromised third-party services.” A group calling itself the Turkish Crime Family claims to have login credentials for more than 750 million icloud.com, me.com and mac.com email addresses, and the group says more than 250 million of those credentials provide access to iCloud accounts that don’t have two-factor authentication turned on. The hackers want Apple to pay $700,000 – $100,000 per group member…

Apple Music is trying out influencer marketing. According to 9to5Mac, Apple Music has created an ‘Ambassador’ program in hopes of promoting the streaming service to young people in the UK. The Apple Music Ambassadors are college students with an online following who have been recruited to tweet on behalf of the service in exchange for an extension of the free three-month membership and other undisclosed perks. It’s unclear whether Apple will expand this program to other countries, or if it will focus on other demographics beyond university students. Apple Music Ambassadors are currently encouraging fellow students to activate their free three-month membership to Apple Music. The ambassadors will be expected to tweet three times throughout the campaign, according to the welcome email published on 9to5Mac. In addition, each ambassador has…

When Apple released its new iPad, the company also simplified the iPad line-up: instead of four models, there are now three. This makes it easier to decide which one to buy, though there are still a lot of factors to consider. We take a look at the major features you should think about when picking an iPad. Size If you want to carry your iPad around, size is an important consideration. Overleaf is a breakdown of each iPad. Display Just looking at the iPads, it’s difficult to discern any difference in the screens besides their sizes. All of the iPads use LED-backlit displays with Multi-Touch support and fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating. But there are a few features that are found in some models and not in others that may not be…

After seven beta releases, iOS 10.3 is finally here. This dot-release brings with it the ability to track your AirPods from the Find My iPhone app and the switch from the outdated HFS+ system to the new Apple File System. In addition, iOS 10.3 lets you leave reviews in-app and will give developers the chance to reply to your reviews in the App Store. It’s always important to back up your iOS device before attempting to install any new software, but because iOS 10.3 switches to a new file format, you might run into some unexpected compatibility issues. So, it’s extra important to create a backup this time. Back up You can back up your device to your computer or to iCloud. Back up to iCloud by going to Settings…

New PowerVR graphics architecture from Imagination Technologies will give a serious graphics boost to Apple’s future iPhones, including 4K graphics. Imagination is announcing Furian, the first major graphics architecture upgrade since Rogue, which was announced in 2010. Apple’s iPhone 7 currently has graphics based on the Rogue architecture. The Furian architecture also sets up future iPhones for graphics-intensive applications like virtual reality. It will be used in new PowerVR GPUs like the Series8XT, according to Imagination. The architecture has already been licensed to device makers and should be available in mobile devices by the end of 2018. Apple modifies PowerVR graphics architectures for the iPhone, meaning the graphics capabilities may also reach its devices next year. The iPhone 7 has a GPU based on PowerVR GT7600 GPU architecture, which is…

Instagram has become something of an art form. To avoid cluttering your friends’ feeds, you have to pick the best photo from a day or an event, the one that perfectly encapsulates the experience. Then you artfully edit the image by choosing the perfect filter and tweaking it in advanced options. A sardonic or heartfelt caption rounds out the post, which you then share and wait for the likes to come rolling in. But today, Instagram is changing the game. You don’t have to share just one photo per post anymore. In an update for iOS, Instagram has lifted its limitations with multiple images and videos per post – up to 10, to be exact. This is a feature that Instagram actually launched two years ago, but was previously only…

Price: £129 Buy from: tinyurl.com/mft22er The BeatsX headphones fix my biggest annoyance with the AirPods, which is their reliance on Siri. BeatsX has a microphone so you can use Siri to queue up music or make a phone call, but since the two earbuds are connected with a wire, there’s room for a three-button remote, which lets you adjust the volume and control playback without getting Siri involved. That’s a really big deal. The BeatsX also offers superior comfort, longer battery life, and more convenient charging, but just the existence of the inline remote makes these the winner over the £159 AirPods. BeatsX even costs £30 less and comes in colours. It’s barely a contest, unless you’re totally hooked on the AirPods’ wire-free style. Comfort first I’ve always preferred…

Say you find yourself using the Web on a strange computer – maybe one owned by a relative or friend, or in a library or school. When using a computer or other device that you don’t control, you can enable a private-browsing mode to prevent leaving traces of your activities. That’s good for accidental security, as it keeps the next user of the device from visiting a site with your credentials, set in a cookie or via a login, when they didn’t intend to. This an even better idea for shared computers where the subsequent user is someone you don’t know. Likewise, you can set someone else up with private browsing on your Mac, so that they don’t have access to your settings (guest mode in Chrome) or can’t change…

If Apple’s shiny new red iPhone 7 caught your eye when it was first announced, grab your wallet – it’s now officially on sale. Also available now is the new 9.7in iPad, which replaces the iPad Air 2. The Product (RED) iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are exactly like the existing iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, just in a new colour – an aluminium red backing with a white front bezel – and Apple donates a portion of each Product (RED) device sale to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS. Pick between the 128GB iPhone 7 model for £699 and the 256GB version for £799; the 7 Plus will set you back £819 or £919, respectively. It’s available in Apple stores now, and you can reserve one online for in-store…

Apple has acquired the Workflow automation app, which allows iOS users to trigger a sequence of tasks across apps with a single tap. A spokesman for Apple confirmed the company’s acquisition of DeskConnect, the developer of the app, and the Workflow app, but did not provide further details. Workflow, developed for the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch, allows users to drag and drop combinations of actions to create workflows that interact with the apps and content on the device. It won an Apple design award in 2015 at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference. Some of the examples of tasks for which Workflow can be used are making animated GIFs, adding a home screen icon to call a loved one and tweeting a song the user has been listening to, according…

You could argue that Apple just had its first ever non-event. As we looked at earlier (page 4), the firm launched a red iPhone 7, and a bunch of new iPhone cases and Apple Watch bands. In addition, Apple increased the iPhone SE storage size options to 32- and 128GB, up from 16- and 64GB. The simply named iPad serves as a replacement for the iPad Air line. Starting at £339, the iPad is actually cheaper and faster than the most recent iPad Air 2. The iPad line-up reshuffle also claimed another casualty: the iPad mini 2. Customers interested in purchasing a 7.9in iPad will have to settle for just one model in one storage size, the 128GB iPad mini 4 for £419. Typically, Apple would announce all these new…

Find My AirPods The AirPods are truly wireless, meaning there are no wires to get tangled up in, but also no wires to keep these earbuds from getting lost. Thankfully, Apple addressed this situation by integrating a Find My AirPods feature into the Find My iPhone app. After pairing your AirPods, the Find My iPhone app will automatically keep track of your precious earbuds, so you’ll never have to go rummaging through couch cushions on a mad AirPod hunt again. New Podcast widget In the iOS 10.3 update, you will be able to add a Podcast widget to Control Centre, allowing you to quickly continue to listen to your favourite podcast or launch the next one on your list. This widget looks very similar to the Music widget, but instead…

While the iPad has certainly matured since its humble beginnings, it still has many of the same shortcomings it did at its debut in 2010. Even with productivity-minded accessories like the Smart Keyboard and Apple Pencil, the iPad is still a far cry from the super computer Apple’s new tagline would have you believe it is. And you only need to look at the latest sales figures to see that people aren’t into it as much as they once were. Of course, Apple isn’t resting on its laurels. According to oft-accurate analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, on the docket for this year is a 10.5in model with super-skinny bezels, pushing the 9.7in model to low-cost status and presumably killing off the iPad mini altogether. A move to a larger lineup would further…

If you aren’t using two-factor authentication to protect your Apple ID and iCloud account, you really should do it today. Using two-factor authentication should protect you completely. It’s simple to set up, so take a minute and do it now. You used to be able to set up two-factor on the account settings page at appleid.apple.com, but now this has to be done on a Mac or iOS device. (Apple ID users who don’t have a compatible device can still use an older two-step verification system – see below for more.) iOS Follow these steps on a device running iOS 9 or later. The iOS device must be protected with a passcode (Settings > Touch ID and Passcode). • Launch the Settings app, and go to iCloud. Obviously you need…

Every time you plug the iPhone into a new Mac you get a message saying “Do you want to erase this iPhone and sync with this iTunes library?” Apple makes sure you can only sync the iPhone with one Mac at a time. But this feature shows how to sync with more than one Mac. There are two ways you can sync an iPhone with more than one Mac: • Use a third-party app such as AnyTrans • Sync the iPhone with more than one Mac by managing your iPhone manually. (This erases the content) It used to be possible to trick iTunes into syncing with more than one Mac by copying the Library Persistent ID Key, but this process no longer works. Apple has also tightened up the way…

This winter has been packed with speculation about the future directions of the iPad product line, but nobody guessed that 2017’s first iPad announcement would be what we saw: an unexpected return of the original iPad line and the discontinuation of the iPad Air. The move was hardly exciting in terms of technology, but it could prove to be a smart and strategic one for the iPad as a whole. The curious case of the fifth-gen iPad Lately Apple’s been keeping old products on its price list, at reduced prices, in order to reach customers who don’t want (or can’t afford) to pay a premium for cutting-edge tech. An exception was last year’s iPhone SE, which rolled a bunch of modern tech into a new, low-priced iPhone. The new iPad…

When I decided to buy an Apple Watch Series 2, I knew exactly which model I wanted: rose gold with the pink and midnight woven nylon band. It was a combination Apple highlighted on its website, but I wasn’t sure how many the store would keep in stock. Luckily, I snagged one of the few remaining at London’s Covent Garden Apple Store and wear it almost every day. Unfortunately, Apple has decided to stop making its watches so customizable in the box. The rose gold Apple Watch Series 2 with pink and midnight woven nylon band is no longer a combination you can buy on Apple.com/uk. In fact, you can’t choose a nylon band alongside your aluminium or stainless steel watch at all anymore. Your choices are a Sport band,…

While Apple’s new products (see page 4) grabbed all the attention, Apple also made an update to iTunes that movie renters will enjoy. iTunes 12.6 is now available, and it has a new feature that the company dubs as ‘rent once, watch anywhere’. If you rent a movie on your iPad, iPhone, or Apple TV, you can now watch the movie on all those devices. Prior to the update, iTunes movie rentals on the iPhone, iPad and Apple TV were restricted to the device the rental was made on. Also, iTunes movie rentals could be made on a Mac and then transferred to an iPhone or iPad by performing a sync. You could also play a rented movie to Apple TV by using AirPlay. Before you install the iTunes update…

Price: From £339 Buy from: apple.com/uk Quietly, and without the fanfare of a press event, Apple has launched its latest iPad, branded in most cases simply ‘iPad’; the Air branding is no more. Slightly complicating matters, Apple frequently calls it the “iPad (5th generation)” in official documents, while pundits have been squabbling over whether to call it that, or “7th generation”, or “iPad (2017 edition)”. To make things easier we’ll be referring to it as the iPad 2017 throughout this article. The iPad 2017, which appears to replace the iPad Air 2 in Apple’s line-up (the iPad mini 2 has also disappeared from the store, although both the Air 2 and mini 2 are still available for education buyers), represents an affordable option for those who don’t need the…

Apple’s latest iOS app is designed to help iPhone and iPad users get social with videos, though it isn’t a social network itself. The company’s new Clips app lets you add filters, emoji, and animated text to short videos. Think of it like a mashup of Snapchat and iMovie. The videos can be one clip or multiple clips. Apple says the new app will make it quick and easy to create multi-clip videos “without timelines, tracks or complicated editing tools”. Like other apps, you touch and hold a button to shoot live video or add photos, then you can add filters, speech bubbles, emoji and other items afterward. There are also stock music options, animated backgrounds, and text. But the feature Apple is most proud of is called Live Titles.…

If you’re someone who doesn’t have any specific reasons to go there, you may have never explored the Accessibility settings on your iPhone or iPad. While it’s true that those settings are there primarily for people who have special physical needs to modify how a device’s interface works, the fact is, many people who don’t consider themselves in need of any sort of accommodation can find something of value in these settings. Accessibility has become a place where Apple buries some specific details about how its devices behave – and that’s why you should take a stroll through those settings sometime just to see if they solve problems you didn’t even realize were solvable. Here are some of my favourites. iOS accessibility In iOS, Accessibility settings are located in the…

Recently, hundreds of accounts – from Forbes to Amnesty International to Starbucks Argentina – started spewing swastikas and slogans in Turkish labelling the Netherlands “Nazi Holland”. The propaganda arises from a dispute in advance of a Turkish referendum to grant its president more power, and the Dutch refusal to allow Turkish officials to speak at rallies of Turkish people living in the Netherlands. Political issues aside, the accounts were hijacked through a weakness many people forget exists until it strikes: third-party app permissions in social networks and other platforms. These integrations are part of the power of many services, which pitch themselves as platforms. Developers can create software that talks to the service’s API and reads information from a user who authorizes it. But more critically, these third-party apps can…

Price: £216 Buy from: tinyurl.com/L2Lef7v Headphones with active noise cancellation (ANC) can filter out the noise pollution that accompanies modern travel, whether it be the low-frequency rumble of a jet engine or the drone of a train or bus on your daily commute. Basic ANC technology has been around for years, and batteries are becoming good enough that it can be used with wireless models. Manufacturers have also started adding features that make ANC even more effective. For Libratone, that means giving you the power to control how much of the outside world is allowed in. The £216 Q Adapt wireless headphones don’t look all that special, but they do sport Bluetooth 4.1 and they support the high-quality aptX audio codec. If your smartphone, digital audio player, or other…

Reader Mary Gascho has a persistent pest. After upgrading her iPhone, “I am constantly getting an ‘approval request sent’ pop-up.” The message tells her that if she wants to keep using iCloud, she needs to approve that from another device that is using the same iCloud account. This appears to be related to iCloud Keychain based on reports from other people having the persistent problem. My colleague Joe Kissell wrote a thorough rundown in 2013 on using iCloud Keychain, including approving access from one device for another, and that’s remained largely unchanged. However, Mary’s problem and that of others doesn’t seem to be alleviated by using his directions. Her old phone, which is still active, isn’t giving her a way to approve access on the new one. Other users have…

After the recent news that Apple had acquired iOS power user app Workflow, you’d be excused for being a bit confused about the future of automation on Apple’s platform. After all, it was just last November that Sal Soghoian, Apple’s product manager of automation technologies, left the company when his position was eliminated. And yet, Apple snapped up Workflow, an app that many had compared to Apple’s own Automator, which was introduced way back in 2005’s Mac OS X Tiger. So what gives? Is there still some life in automation and scripting features on Apple’s platforms, or is this merely a case of Apple acquiring useful talent? Follow the script Scripting’s been part of the Mac since the earliest days. AppleScript, which grew out of HyperCard’s HyperTalk scripting language, was…