Table of contents for Issue 127 in iPad & iPhone User

It’s not enough that the new iPhone X is only a couple of months old; rumours about next year’s iPhone are already starting to fly. We’ll keep track of what’s been said and what seems feasible in this article so you can keep up with the latest iPhone gossip. What’s the latest? A report in Nikkei Asian Review claims that Apple is working on its own power management chips for iOS devices, which it will start integrating into iOS devices in 2018. Current iOS devices use power management chips made by the UK company Dialog Semiconductor. These chips manage battery charging and the power supplied from the battery to the various components within the phone. Nikkei’s sources say Apple’s new chip will be the most advanced in the industry, and…

iOS 11 is the biggest change to Apple’s mobile operating system in years. It’s so ambitious in scope that some of it’s its most interesting features didn’t make it into the initial release. iOS 11.1 mostly fixed bugs and brought us a bunch of new emoji, but iOS 11.2 is more substantial, with the addition of Apple Pay Cash. After six beta releases, Apple made the unusual move of pushing out iOS 11.2 over the weekend, because it fixes a nasty bug whereby apps that trigger daily notifications could cause your iPhone to crash starting on 2 December. What’s in iOS 11.2? New features The biggest new feature of iOS 11.2 is Apple Pay Cash (only in the US, for now). Apple’s person-to-person payment system works within iMessage and lets…

Choosing which iPhone to buy has always been tricky. If you can’t afford the latest model Apple offers older models at a lower price. Plus, there are screen sizes and storage options to consider. Here, we look at each of the eight handsets Apple currently offers. We’ll discuss price, specifications and features, so you’ll feeling much more confident that you’re about to make the right decision about which iPhone to buy. Buying an iPhone on contract The two most common ways to buy an iPhone are SIMfree from Apple itself or a third-party reseller, or buying an iPhone on contract. A contract usually starts with an upfront payment that will vary depending on the iPhone model you opt for and also how much you’ll be paying each month. That upfront…

Price: $79.99 (around £60 inc VAT) Buy from: fave.co/2iCkVZT As a longtime Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom user, I periodically consider buying a digitizer, such as a Wacom tablet, to better take advantage of editing with brushes and other tools that work with pen-based input. I know photographers and artists who swear by them, but it would be a significant expense for my comparatively modest editing needs. It turns out, though, I already have an excellent pen-based touchscreen device: an iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil. More often than not, it’s usually on my desk at home or in my bag at a coffee shop. Astropad Studio turns that iPad Pro into a digitizer. Most Wacom tablets incorporate a pen-sensitive surface that transmits strokes and taps over a wire.…

It’s a common misconception that closing out apps on your iPhone helps extend battery life. This isn’t true – iOS suspends inactive background applications effectively. Restarting apps from scratch takes more time and can result in shorter battery life than simply unsuspending them. But apps aren’t always perfectly well behaved. Sometimes they freeze or the interface gets corrupted, and you need to start over fresh. Those sorts of situations are the only times you should close apps. With no home button, how do you do it? Simple: 1. Bring up your list of all apps by swiping up from the bottom of the screen and pausing for a second. You’ll see cards for all your apps pop in. 2. Press and hold anywhere on those app cards. You’ll see a…

It’s easy to send animated GIFs from your iPhone using the Messages app, using the built-in app drawer added in iOS 11. In this tutorial we show how to make use of this feature, and amuse and delight your friends with yawning babies, dancing Pokémon, Taylor Swift doing thumbs up, and so on. (It’s also pretty easy to send GIFs over WhatsApp, if that’s more your thing.) Sending GIFs from Messages’ built-in selection Open the Messages app, and either tap the compose icon (a pen in a square) to create a new message or open an existing conversation. Unlike many of the newer features in this app, GIF support is not limited to iMessage conversations with other iOS users; it works in conventional texts too. At the bottom of the…

When it comes to the tablet market, there’s the iPad and there’s everybody else. Apple dominates the market, especially in the premium price range. To hold on to its position, Apple has been kept things fresh with new models like the 12.9in iPad Pro and new technologies like Apple Pencil and ProMotion. But the fundamental design of the iPad hasn’t changed much in years. That could all change in 2018, as Apple gives use the first holistic new iPad design in a very long time. What’s the latest? According to DigiTimes, which cites “sources from related upstream suppliers,” Apple wants to release a new, cheaper 9.7in iPad in 2018. The sources claim the model would start at around £259. That’s considerably cheaper than the already rather affordable £329 iPad Apple…

AirPlay has been with us for a long time. It’s an evolution of the old AirTunes protocol, which was meant only for music. In 2010, AirTunes got a host of new capabilities (music, photos, video) and a new name. A year later, it gained the ability to mirror your iOS or Mac screen to a compatible AirPlay receiver. With an Apple TV, you could put your Mac desktop on your PC in the blink of an eye! You’ve seen the AirPlay logo in dozens of apps, often tucked away in the Share menu. If you want to beam content from your iOS device to the Apple TV or a set of speakers, it’s delightful. But it has languished over the last several years, adding no meaningful new features while the…

There’s nothing more frustrating than firing up your luxurious new smartphone, tapping one of your favourite games from your last device, and finding that it just doesn’t look right. In the case of the iPhone X, apps not updated for the new extra-tall, notch-adorned OLED display have black bars bookending the experience. With that in mind, here are 10 of the top games you can play on Apple’s new phone, and each one has been optimized for that dazzling screen. 1. Monument Valley 2 Price: £4.99 from tinyurl.com/yawmg8fw If you haven’t gotten around to playing Monument Valley 2, now is definitely the time to do so. Ustwo’s sequel looks gorgeous on any screen you can find it on, but that’s especially true with the iPhone X, as the vivid colours…

Face ID is at least as secure as Touch ID, but it does have its drawbacks. If you have an identical twin, for example, they will probably be able to fool it. And if someone gets hold of your phone and manages to point it at your face, that might unlock it (provided you turn your attention toward it). Apple has safeguards in place, just as it did with Touch ID: If Face ID tries to authenticate on someone else’s face and fails several times, it will disable and require your passcode. Still, there may be times when you feel that you don’t want anyone to be able to use Face ID to get into your phone. Fortunately, it’s quite easy to temporarily disable it. It’s fast and discreet. Temporarily…

Taking screenshots is one of the most-used iPhone features, and with iOS 11’s new screenshot editing features, it’s more useful than ever. But you’ve always taken a screenshot by pressing the Side button and Home button, and that won’t work on an iPhone X as is no Home button. Fortunately, it’s just as easy on Apple’s new phone. Simply press the Side button and the Volume Up button at the same time.…

Ahead of the iPhone X’s announcement back in September, there had been plenty of rumours about it including biometric security based on facial recognition, as well as whether or not Apple was struggling to incorporate Touch ID into this new model. Unsurprisingly, there was a lot of hand-wringing over this move, with plenty of pundits who insisted that Face ID was only a sop until Apple could figure out how to incorporate Touch ID into its new all-screen phone. Now that the iPhone X has finally made its way into the world, we’ve gotten a little more perspective on the matter. Not only have we seen how Face ID is a major departure from previous facial recognition systems, but we’ve also had Apple executives point out that the company had…

If you’re lucky enough to own an iPhone X, we reveal how to master Apple’s flagship device. These tips will help you work through some of the interface quirks and point out features about you may not have known. 1. Show battery percentage Unfortunately, there’s no setting to show the battery percentage in the status bar. Now that it’s split into the left and right side of the notch, there just isn’t room. The quickest way to show your remaining battery percentage is to look at Control Centre. Just swipe down from the upper-right side of the notch. Hopefully, a future iOS update will allow you to tap on the status bar to show battery percentage, Do Not Disturb status, and other useful info. 2. Master the new gestures and…

When Apple comes to mind, it probably conjures images of slick, carefully engineered devices with innovative, envelope-pushing features. And the company’s surely had more than its fair share of those, but it’s also managed to pull off a subtler but far greater feat that goes under appreciated. The company has not only figured out how to make us eat our vegetables – technologically speaking – but it’s also turned those very features into selling points. Because it’s one thing to sell a flashy, shiny device; it’s quite another to get people excited about the mundane necessities of the technology world. Baby got backups In autumn 2007, I’d only recently started working at Macworld, and I was assigned to cover what was the biggest of big deals in those days: the…

Whether you’re playing on the spectacular iPhone X or something less extravagant, the App Store has plenty of new games to help bring a swipe to your finger and a smile to your face. November saw a pretty sweet stack of compelling iOS game releases, and amidst the excitement and stress of the holiday season, you may need some fresh distractions. Here are our top new releases. 1. GRID Autosport Price: £9.99 from tinyurl.com/ybvy5698 There’s no shortage of great racing games on iPhone and iPad, and we picked our favourites over the summer – but we might have to tweak that list after playing GRID Autosport. It’s billed as a console-quality mobile game, and that’s absolutely true since it’s a port of a 2014 console and PC game. And it…

You shouldn’t have to turn off your iPhone very often. If you’re not going to use it for a few hours, it’s not worth the hassle (and minuscule battery life savings) to shut it down. But, if you know you’re not going to use your phone for a couple days, or on a very long international flight, and you want to save every last ounce of battery life, shutting it down can be an effective option. Also, if you suspect some bug has made your phone unresponsive or slow, the first troubleshooting step should be that old IT standby: turn it off and on again. You used to be able to force a restart on iPhone by holding down the side and Home button for awhile – 10 seconds or…

Over time the contacts list on your iPhone can quickly become cluttered with duplicates: multiple entries for the same people. This might be due to new email addresses, phones numbers, or other ephemera being added here and there, or simple carelessness. However it happens, the end result is usually a mess. Clearing this up is easy to do, though, as the duplicates can either be merged into single master contacts, or deleted if they serve no purpose. In this article we show how to get control of your iPhone address book once more. Merge (link) duplicate contacts If the various contacts you have for the same person contain different information – maybe work and home numbers – then they can be merged into one with only a few quick steps.…