Table of contents for 206 in iPad & iPhone User

Apple is late to the AI party, and when it finally announced its own Apple Intelligence offering earlier this month, the company tacitly acknowledged this with the news that it plans to partner with more established players in the market. Apple has built its own AI model, but it plans to outsource specialist or advanced tasks to others’ models. Initially, that will mean OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which Apple regards as the leading light of generative AI and “the best choice for our users today”, according to Craig Federighi. But the company made it clear other names will be drafted in too. And this has resulted in some surprising potential partnerships, such as a team-up with Facebook’s parent company Meta. According to a Wall Street Journal story (fave.co/4eFHMi2) published this weekend, citing…

In an alternate WWDC keynote that wasn’t dominated by Apple Intelligence (see page 36), the new iPad Pro could have been launched as Apple’s slimmest device ever and captured all the attention. Indeed, back in the day, the company would often build an entire launch event around the message ‘last year’s device, only thinner’. That hasn’t been a common sell in recent years, however, as Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman points out in a recent edition of his Power On newsletter (fave.co/4cqqtPK). The MacBook Pro, the Apple Watch and, to an extent, the iPhone have all been given thicker models designed to accommodate either new features, improved battery life, or in the case of the Apple Watch Ultra, a more robust chassis for outdoor settings. But with the launch of the…

Apple has taken the wraps off iOS 18, and it’s going to be a big update. With huge leaps to some of the most-used apps and huge new personalization features, plus a big heaping helping of AI, this might even be the biggest iOS release in years. From Game Mode to the new Passwords app, there are tons of new features coming to your iPhone this autumn, but here are some of the most significant ways your iPhone will be elevated to the next level. APPLE INTELLIGENCE TAKES SIRI TO THE NEXT LEVEL While Apple’s big new AI features are not exclusive to iOS (they’re coming to iPadOS and macOS as well), they will make a huge impact to the way we use our iPhones. Apple emphasized the privacy and…

At WWDC 2024, Apple unveiled watchOS 11, the next operating system update for Apple Watch. The software brings new apps, new features, new face customization options, an upgraded Smart Stack, and extensive changes to the Apple Watch’s health and fitness functions. Here’s a taste of the features coming to your Apple Watch later this year: NEW WATCH FACES We’ll start with something that comes up nearly every year: new watch faces. Or perhaps we should say upgraded rather than new faces because this is a change to the existing Photos face. The way this will change in watchOS 11 is that you’ll be able to create custom faces more easily, thanks to assistance from the OS. The Watch will analyse thousands of your photos to make a recommendation of those…

The future of Apple technology was revealed at WWDC24 the future requires some hefty hardware. Apple introduced Apple Intelligence, its feature set in its operating systems that implement AI technology. Apple Intelligence is designed to do as much as it can on your device and will rely on cloud computing only when it needs to. And because AI tech is processor intensive, it means that the latest features will run only on certain devices. Here are the hardware requirements for Apple Intelligence when it arrives later this year: iPhone iPhone 15 Pro or later iPad iPad Air, iPad Pro (M1, M2) iPad Pro (M4) Mac MacBook Air/Pro (M1, M2, M3) iMac (M1, M3) Mac mini (M1, M2) Mac Studio (M1, M2) Mac Pro (M2) WHAT HAPPENS IF YOUR HARDWARE DOES…

Apple’s upcoming iOS 18 software update brings a lot of major changes to the way the iPhone behaves, and a few less heralded ones that are still worth knowing about. But one eagle-eyed beta tester has spotted a tweak that didn’t make either of those lists. According to the Reddit user ant_t99 (fave.co/3zkYVwW) iPhones running the first iOS 18 developer beta display the current time, even when they’re out of juice. For those who don’t wear a watch and rely on their smartphone to tell the time, this could be a crucial bonus feature. When an iPhone is considered to have run out of battery, it actually still has a little power left – a sort of emergency supply. And in iOS 18 it will use this to display an…

A mong Steve Jobs’ many philosophies at Apple was giving customers what they need, not necessarily what they want. He famously said, “People don’t know what they want until you show it to them. That’s why I never rely on market research. Our task is to read things that are not yet on the page.” At WWDC, Apple gave us a ton of features that were already on the page. Several chapters back, in fact. One of the main features of iOS 18 is a whole new level of customization that permeates the entire interface, from the Home Screen layout to the Lock Screen, icons, and the Control Centre. It doesn’t even have a fancy name, it just falls under the umbrella of Customization. On the surface, it’s all good.…

One of the benefits of investing in Apple’s ecosystem is the easy interoperability between devices. That interoperability is showcased in the Apple Vision Pro with its Mac Virtual Display feature, which allows the headset to function as a 100-foot display for your Mac. Why would you even bother with Mac Virtual Display? For one, it’s a much bigger display than anything Apple sells. For another, you can use Vision Pro apps alongside the Mac Virtual Display for greater multitasking. (For example, you could play a video on Vision Pro while working on the Mac Virtual Display.) And finally, since the Mac’s display goes blank, you – and only you – see your Mac desktop in the Vision Pro, so it’s a way to create a private display. Here’s how to…

Price: From £159 from fave.co/4eDB63Q Logitech makes an even wider range of iPad keyboards than Apple, but choosing the right model is relatively easy as Logitech’s website allows you to type in your iPad’s model number – found on the back of the iPad – and will then show you which keyboards are compatible with your model. One of the best all-round options from Logitech is the Combo Touch, which is available in a variety of sizes for iPad, iPad Air and iPad Pro. Previous models in Logitech’s Combo Touch range were all very similar, simply varying in size to accommodate different iPad models, and the different types of Smart Connector that Apple has introduced over the years. These older models are still available for the older iPads, but the…

Apple has announced that Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 and Final Cut Pro for Mac 10.8 are now available. Existing users of the software can get the new versions for free in the App Store. The new software includes features that were revealed in May. FINAL CUT PRO FOR iPAD 2 & FINAL CUT CAMERA FOR iPHONE Here are the release notes for Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 (fave.co/3VH58uG), which lists the new features: • Easily create and edit projects on a connected external storage device. • Connect to Final Cut Camera on iPad or iPhone to record up to four angles at once using Live Multicam. • Dial in your exposure with shutter speed and ISO controls in pro camera mode. • Enable focus peaking to ensure…

Apple’s wearable devices, including the Apple Watch and AirPods, could gain hefty increases in battery life thanks to a new development in battery technology. TDK, a major Japanese firm which has supplied batteries and other components for the iPhone, has announced that it has developed a material for a next-gen solid-state battery with far higher energy density than those used previously. In a press release (fave.co/3xi0njj, the company boasts that it has: “Successfully developed a material for CeraCharge, a next-generation solid‑state battery with an energy density of 1,000 Wh/L, approximately 100 times greater than the energy density of TDK’s conventional solid‑state battery.” This technology, TDK says, is intended to be used in “various wearable devices, such as wireless earphones, hearing aids and even smartwatches, with the goal of replacing existing…

A long with iOS 18, watchOS 11, and macOS Sequoia, Apple previewed iPadOS 18 during WWDC24’s jam-packed opening keynote. This upcoming OS update will pack a wide range of new features and changes, including a more customizable Home Screen, Apple Intelligence integration for M1, M2 and M4 models, a revamped Control Centre, and much, much more. However, there’s one feature everyone will rush to try before anything else. iPadOS 18 will finally bring a native Calculator app to the latest iPads – an addition users have been requesting since its debut in 2010, more than 14 years ago. But Apple isn’t just stretching the iPhone’s Calculator to fill the large canvas. Instead, it’s also bringing some advanced capabilities to it, which will turn it into an invaluable asset for students…

Apple didn’t have a lot of new Apple TV or smart home announcements to make at WWDC, but the few new features announced provide some real quality‑of-life improvements. Here are some of the key features coming to Apple TV and Apple’s smart home ecosystem this autumn. INSIGHT One of our favourite features of Amazon Prime Video is X-Ray – just pause what you’re watching to see the actors on screen, the music playing at that moment, and other relevant information. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, they say, because InSight looks just like X-Ray. Swipe down on the TV remote when you’re watching an Apple Original series to see the same sort of info: actors and their characters and the current song playing. You can even add it to…

Easily the hottest feature of iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and macOS 15 is Apple Intelligence, the brand Apple has chosen for its own particular suite of mostly-on-device, privacy-protected, personal AI features. But when you update your devices this September, you’ll probably be left scratching your head as to where all the AI features are. First, because Apple Intelligence is only going to run on iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max (or later) and M-series Macs and iPads, but also because many of the cool features you’ve heard about just aren’t there. The best parts of Apple Intelligence aren’t coming at launch. Some will come later in 2024 through some software updates, and others will come in 2025. It’s sort of a slow rollout of AI features through the lifespan of…

There are big, big things coming to iOS 18. You’ll be able to customize your iPhone like never before, every app gets good quality-of-life updates, and of course, Apple Intelligence permeates the entire system (if you have one of the newest iPhones capable of running it). Given all the hype out of WWDC for all the new features, you might be a little disappointed with September rolls around and iOS 18 is released. That’s because some of the best features won’t be in it – by design. Apple has announced that some of the features are “coming later this year”, which is usually Applespeak for “we’ll add these in iOS 18.1, 18.2, or 18.3”. Here’s a quick list of the iOS 18 features that Apple has said not to expect…

Price: £599 from fave.co/45CuVss The biggest innovation in this year’s iPad Air is the new big-gerscreen option: if you want (and can afford the upgrade) you can plump for a 13-inch display. However, Apple sent us the 11-inch model for testing. This came fully equipped with 1TB of storage and cellular connectivity, for which you would have to pay a list price of £1,099. In addition to the iPad, we also received a Smart Folio for the test, which Apple has redesigned slightly and now allows a greater angle of inclination and a Magic Keyboard. This is the older Magic Keyboard model, which is now only compatible with the iPad Air, and not with the M4 version of the iPad Pro. The keyboard holds the iPad magnetically and serves as…

Apple Vision Pro introduces a whole new system of navigating, using your hands and eyes to manipulate virtual controls – looking, pinching, pulling, and swiping in the air. But there are also a some physical controls you’ll want to master as well. Much like the Apple Watch, there’s a single button (called the ‘top button’) on the upper left, and a digital crown on the upper right. These two controls have multiple different functions depending on where you are in an experience and how you use them. Here’s everything these physical controls do on Apple Vision Pro. DIGITAL CROWN Single press: Opens the home view. Press and hold: Recentre content in your view. Useful if you move around. Rotate the crown: Adjust how much environment you see, or adjust volume.…

Price: From £149 from fave.co/3zdVrML As someone who has used the Razer Kishi V2 for iPhone, I’ve noticed that an iPad mini with a Lightning port was unfortunately too big for it. I thought that this was quite a shame because a larger screen would make the experience with the Kishi controller so much better. A year later, Razer launched its successor: the Razer Kishi Ultra, which is big enough for the 6th-gen iPad mini. It made me realize how much of a problem iPad mini gaming can be and what a brilliant upgrade the Kishi Ultra’s compatibility with the iPad mini alone represents. Apart from that, Razer successfully addresses a few other issues I found with the Kishi V2. This makes the Razer Kishi Ultra one of the best…

According to a new report from The Information (fave.co/45yOcLr), Apple has suspended work on the high-end successor to the Vision Pro (you could call it Vision Pro 2). The report says Apple has told at least one supplier, according to “an employee at a manufacturer that makes key components for the Vision Pro”. This doesn’t mean that Apple has no faith in its new Spatial Computing category, but rather is just learning about how much people are willing to pay for it. Apple had reportedly been working on two new Vision products: a refreshed highend ‘Pro’ model with enhanced capabilities, and a more affordable model that Apple would aim to sell for a price similar to that of a high-end iPhone. Apple had intended to get the more affordable model…

For those with small wrists, the Apple Watch Series 9 already pushes the envelope of comfort with the smallest option clocking in at a large 41mmm. However, a new report claims the Apple Watch Series 10 coming this autumn will be even bigger. Writing over at Medium, Ming-Chi Kuo says (fave.co/4b9vDP7) the upcoming Apple Watch “will feature form factor upgrades, including larger screen sizes”, bumping the size from 41-and 45mm to 45-and 49mm. That would represent the largest increase in screen size over a previousgeneration: Apple Watch Series 1: 38mm/42mm Apple Watch Series 4: 40mm/44mm Apple Watch Series 7: 41mm/45mm With the larger screen sizes has come an increase in overall size: Apple Watch Series 1 (38mm): 38.6x33.3x10.5mm Apple Watch Series 4 (40mm): 40x34x10.7mm Apple Watch Series 7: (41mm): 41x35x10.7mm…

During its WWDC keynote, Apple kicked off the announcements with a look at visionOS 2. Coming to the Vision Pro later this year, this OS update packs a slew of new improvements and features that will further enhance the company’s spatial computer. Here are the biggest features users can look forward to this autumn. PHOTOS One of the most notable upgrades coming to visionOS 2 is the ability to transform regular, 2D images into spatial ones. Similar to the existing Spatial Video feature, this would detect subjects and add a 3D effect to them – making the viewing experience more realistic when using a Vision Pro. Beyond that, SharePlay in the Photos app on visionOS 2 will let multiple Vision Pro users enjoy a media viewing session while being physically…

As we’ve already reported (see page 17), Apple took the wraps off its ambitious project to inject generative AI features throughout its operating systems at this year’s WWDC. The tech giant calls this Apple Intelligence, and it’s going to transform the way you use your iPhone, iPad and Mac, but it’s also got significant limitations and caveats. Here’s everything you need to know about Apple Intelligence before it lands on your devices: what it is, what it does, how it works, when it’s coming and what you’ll need to be able to use it. WHAT IS APPLE INTELLIGENCE? Apple Intelligence is Apple’s branded term for its suite of generative AI features coming first in iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS 15 Sequoia. Because Apple has been using machine learning and…

It happens every year. Apple announces a new version of iOS with a bunch of really big new features, and then September rolls around, you install the new version, and it’s not the big things you love. Instead, there’s some tiny little quality-of-life improvement that just makes your day-to-day iPhone use so much better. Over the course of the summer and leading up to iOS 18’s release in September, beta testers will probably find dozens of these little tweaks. Some will appear and then go away, others will change over the course of the beta tests, and some won’t appear until shortly before release in the autumn. But we’ve been keeping our eye on the community, and here are some of the little iOS 18 changes that didn’t make it…

A t this year’s WWDC, Apple announced its latest mobile operating system iOS 18. If you want to try it out before its release this autumn, you’ll need to install the beta. The developer beta is already available, while the first public beta release will come a few weeks later in July. If you want to grab it ass soon as possible, here’s what you should do to prepare. BACK UP YOUR iPHONE TO YOUR MAC OR WINDOWS PC The first iOS betas are always full of bugs. New features are broken or missing, and even some of the stuff that didn’t change may stop working. Important applications may become unresponsive or crash a lot. Battery life may be terrible. There’s a reason the developer beta releases begin weeks before…

The iPad is getting ever more powerful, and a good add-on keyboard can help you turn your iPad into a real rival for a conventional MacBook laptop When the iPad was first launched, it was primarily intended as a device for entertainment – for tasks such as web browsing, streaming video and gaming. In recent years, though, Apple has increasingly turned the iPad into a productivity tool, both for routine office work, and also for creative users who work in fields such as graphics, video and design. The big drawback here, of course, is the iPad’s lack of a physical keyboard – but, of course, Apple never misses the chance to sell some expensive peripherals and accessories, and it has been quick to release a number of keyboards designed specifically…

Force-closing apps on Apple Vision Pro is not intuitive. There’s no list of running apps like you see on your iPhone when you swipe up from the bottom of the screen and pause halfway. There’s no Activity Monitor as you have on Mac. In fact, it’s not easy to see which apps are actually fully close and which are just hidden. When you select the ‘Close’ button to the left of the Window Bar, it doesn’t really fully close the App. It’s more like closing the last window on a Mac – if your Vision Pro had a Dock, you’d see a white dot underneath the app icon. Closing an app in this way is a lot like just returning to your home screen on an iPhone. You can also…