Table of contents for Issue 4 in Mac & macOS The Complete Manual

macOS Sonoma has some awesome new features, and we’re here to tell you all about them. Over the following pages, we bring you tip-top tutorials and plain-English guides to Apple’s latest Mac operating system, its bundled apps and its advanced features. For beginners, we show you how to set up your Mac out of the box, and get to grips with its key functions such as Finder, trackpad gestures and the Dock. Our guides to Sonoma’s key apps cover both the basics and their advanced features. Look out for guides to the Safari web browser, Stage Manager, Mail email client and FaceTime for audio and video chats. We cover Sonoma’s brand new features too, like Desktop Widgets, Dock Applications, Safari Profiles, Screen Sharing and more. With our help, you’ll soon…

1 From the Apple menu you can log out, shut down, restart or put the computer into sleep mode, get comprehensive information on the computer’s hardware and software, access the System Settings and open items you’ve recently closed. 2 The menu bar running along the top of the desktop gives access to functions and controls for the app you currently have open at the time. The app currently in use is shown to the right of the Apple icon. In this case it’s Finder. Open or click on an app and its name is shown here instead; and its menus are listed in the menu bar. 3 The Control Centre is where you can access Bluetooth, Wi-Fi settings, display brightness, volume, Stage Manager, Screen Mirroring and much more. 4 Application windows come in…

Widgets on the Desktop 1 Right-click on your Mac’s desktop for a contextual menu. From this menu, choose the Edit Widgets option. A Widgets picker appears. In the sidebar is a list of apps that offer Widgets, with the Widgets themselves on the right. 2 Scroll up and down the right-hand section on the picker to explore available Widgets. Click on an app in the left to see what Widgets it has to offer. Sometimes, Widgets of different sizes are available. Scroll to see them all. 3 Drag Widgets out of the picker and onto your Desktop. You can place them wherever you like. To delete a Widget, either click the minus sign in its top-left corner on the picker screen, or right-click on it and select Remove Widget. 4 You can edit a…

Connecting with Wi-Fi 1 Make sure that your Mac is within range of your wireless router’s Wi-Fi signal, then click on the Wi-Fi icon in the top menu bar. You’ll see a list of Wi-Fi networks. If your Wi-Fi is off click the switch to turn it on. 2 Click the Other Networks chevron and see a list of Wi-Fi networks available in your area. A lock to the right shows a password is required. Click on the network you wish to join, whether it’s your own router or a public Wi-Fi in a cafe or bar. 3 If a password is required (it probably is), a window appears. Enter the password here. If you’re setting up at home, the password is probably supplied with your router. Your Mac then joins the network,…

Accessing Your Applications from the Dock Add or Remove an Application To add an app, first click the icon filled with multicoloured boxes on the left-hand side of the Dock to bring up Launchpad. Then, click and drag the item you want onto the Dock. To remove it, just drag it out. Open an Application To open an application that’s in your Dock, simply move the mouse pointer onto the Dock and click on its icon. Notice that the app icon slightly bounces as the application opens before the main app opens. Move an Application To move an item to a new location in the Dock, click and drag to the required position. As you move the item the adjacent applications will move aside to allow you to drop the…

Using Launchpad 1 To open the Launchpad, go to the Dock and click on it, or place four fingers on your trackpad and bring them together. The screen darkens and your apps are shown as icons. To launch an app from this screen, click on it. To close Launchpad, press Esc or click on the desktop. 2 If you have more than one page of apps, move between them by swiping left and right with two fingers or hold cmd and use the arrow keys. Click and hold on an app and an ‘X’ appears in the top left corner; click ‘X’ to delete. Not all apps can be deleted in this way. 3 You can arrange your apps into folders on Launchpad too, just like on an iOS and iPadOS Home screen.…

1 This icon opens and closes the sidebar on the left. Close the sidebar to see the Profiles button, which lets you switch between browsing profiles you’ve set up. 2 Here you see how many tabs you currently have open in Safari. A chevron to the right shows and hides all those tabs in a list here in the sidebar. 3 This icon gives you a menu that lets you make a Tab Group of the tabs you currently have open, or start a new, empty Tab Group to which you can add tabs manually. 4 These two chevrons are your navigation controls, which let you move forward and backward through your browsing history. 5 These icons are for Safari Extensions you’ve added. To add extensions, in the top bar’s Safari menu, select Safari Extensions.…

Little has changed in the macOS Sonoma Music app, but collaborative playlists have been introduced – invite each other to select and edit tracks, and add emoji reactions to specific songs. 1 When you’re using the Music app, the top bar gives you pull-down menus offering controls and options. It’s worthwhile familiarising yourself with them. 2 Completion suggestions are offered as you type, and results can be limited to Apple Music, or your on-Mac library, as you wish. Results include artists, songs, albums and more. 3 These are, in turn, Shuffle Tracks, Previous track, Play/Pause, Next track, Repeat Play. 4 When you’re playing music, the album art, artist and title are shown here. Click on the album art to switch to the mini player, which shows the album art and controls only and takes…

Managing and Maintaining Contacts 1 This guide shows you to how to add new contacts to your Contacts address book, edit existing ones and share a completed contact card with other people. To create a new contact card, click on the plus button in the bottom left of the current card. Select New Contact from the window that pops up and you’re given a blank card to fill in. 2 To add details, click on the field and then type in the information. After entering a phone number or address, another blank is offered, in case you want to add a second one. Click on the name of the detail (in blue) for a pop-up window that lets you change it. When you’re finished, click Done. To change or add information to…

1 Launch Screen Sharing app. You see a list of previous connections; click on one to make this connection again. If the screen you want to connect to isn’t on this list, click the plus symbol in the top right and enter the Apple ID of the person in question. 2 The person who’s screen you want to share gets a notification. They should click on it for this window, which lets them choose to allow to control their screen, watch it without controlling it, decline altogether or block the person who requested it. 3 You can now see the other person’s screen, shown in a window in your own screen. If you’ve been given permission to operate it, you can use it as if you were right in front of the Mac…

Reactions In macOS Sonoma, you can use awesome 3D graphical effects in video chats, by choosing them from a menu or, better still, making a simple hand gesture. They’re great fun, and work in almost any video chat application. Here’s how they work. To use a Reaction from the menu, click the white-on-green camera icon in the top bar, and in the drop-down window, click the chevron to the right of the word ‘Reaction’. Click on one of the icons that are shown to produce its graphical effect. The other way of doing this, of course, is using hand gestures, which are as follows. You might have to hold the gesture in place for a few seconds before you get the effect. Make sure the entire gesture is on the…

The People Tab 1 Click the People tab. Click on your own picture in the left-hand sidebar, and click on the ‘i’ in the window that pops up on the map. In the next window, you can change the device through which your location is represented, switch off sharing, Notifications and more. 2 To start sharing your location with someone else, click Share My Location in the bottom-left corner, Enter the name, phone number or email of another Apple user in the To field or navigate to their details using the + icon. People with whom you’ve recently shared your location are listed below. 3 Decide whether to share for an hour, the rest of the day or indefinitely, and your location is shared with that person. If they reciprocate, you can see…

1 To open Stage Manager for the first time, click the Control Centre icon in the menu bar (the one that looks like two switches), and in the Control Centre window that appears, click the box titled ‘Stage Manager.’ 2 Stage Manager opens, and you see all your open windows except the one you’re currently using move to a space on the left of the desktop. The screen then looks much cleaner, and less messy and cluttered. 3 Click on a window on the left, and it’s brought to the fore. Click on an app icon in the Dock and it opens. If a window is too close to the left side of the desktop to allow Stage Manager to be seen, drag your mouse pointer there to reveal it. 4 With an app…

Continuity Camera is a macOS and iOS feature that lets you use your iPhone as a webcam, connecting wirelessly with your Mac and giving access to the iPhone camera’s great features such as Centre Stage, Portrait mode and Studio Light which illuminates a user’s face while dimming the background. If your iPhone has an Ultra Wide camera, you can enable Desk View, which simultaneously shows your face and an overhead view of your desk. To set up and use Continuity Camera, use these simple steps. 1: On the iPhone, open the Settings app and go to General > AirPlay & Handoff, and tap the switch marked Continuity Camera Webcam. Close the Settings app. 2: On the Mac, open whichever video app you intend to use, such as FaceTime, Zoom, QuickTime and…

1 The App Switcher is easy to use. Hold the cmd key and press Tab. A window showing the icons of all your open apps is displayed in a floating panel in the centre of your desktop. If you release the keys, they disappear again. 2 You can toggle through these apps by repeatedly pressing the Tab key and releasing cmd when you’ve highlighted the app you want. This app is then brought to the front of your Mac, so you can make use of it straight away. 3 You can move forwards or backwards through the list of open apps using the arrow keys at the bottom right of your keyboard, or to the left of the numeric keypad on a large keyboard. Alternatively, just click on one with your pointer. 4 If…

1 When an update to your current version of macOS – or a new release entirely – is available, Software Update is badged in System Preferences. In the Apple menu, there’s an update listed in System Settings too. 2 Open System Settings from the Apple menu, the Dock or LaunchPad (it doesn’t matter which), and click on the badged Software Update icon. It checks for an update, then tells you what it is. Click the Upgrade Now button. 3 There next follows a licence agreement for macOS Sonoma, the terms of which you must accept if you’re to proceed with the update. Read it all if you wish, but it’s not very interesting. 4 Click Agree to accept the terms and conditions, you’re asked for your administrator’s password. It’s the one you use to…

1 First, you might see this window, inviting you to choose the language you use to set up your Mac. The most popular languages are at the top of the list, but if you want to use an alternative one, scroll up until you find it, click on it and then click the arrow (bottom right). 2 Now you must choose your territory, that is, where you live and will be using your Mac. You can scroll the list of countries up and down to find your own, or start to type it to get there quicker. Click your country to highlight your choice, then click Continue. 3 Now select your Mac’s language and input source. The default ones for your chosen territory are offered, but if you want to…

Choosing a Screen Saver 1 Open System Settings from the Apple menu in the top-left of the screen. In the left-hand sidebar, click on Screen Saver. A range of savers is on offer, including current and past macOS savers, aerial photos and various graphics. 2 There’s some great slow-mo aerial shots on offer, divided into categories; Landscape, Cityscape, Underwater, Earth. The Shuffle Aerials option lets you use a screen saver chosen at random from one of these categories. 3 Scroll left and right along a row to see more screen savers, or click Show All for all the options in a category. When choosing an aerial screen saver, it has to download; see the progress circle in the top-right corner of the window. 4 When it’s downloaded, you can preview the screen saver by…

Dark Mode 1 From the Apple menu, open System Settings. In the left-hand column, click on the Appearance option. At the top of the right-hand section are the Light, Dark, and Auto buttons. Dark and Light buttons switch to those modes, and Auto sets it according to your Night Shift schedule. 2 With Dark Mode on, the colours are subdued or reversed in Finder, windows, the Mac’s built-in apps and more. Third-party apps can be built to take advantage of Dark Mode too. If you find it more comfortable to work on a darker screen, this is excellent news. Night Shift Mode 1 From the Apple menu, open System Preferences. Click on Displays in the left sidebar and then on the Night Shift button. From here you can schedule Night Shift Mode to…

The Apple Menu 1 The Apple menu is always found in the top-left corner of Ventura’s desktop. To open it, click on the Apple icon once, then choose an option. This menu is always there, whatever it is that you’re doing on your Mac. 2 Choose About This Mac for a window showing you technical information about your computer. Clicking More Info… lets you delve further, looking at its Display, Storage and more; and you can get a full System Report by clicking the System Report button too. 3 The System Settings option opens the Mac’s System Settings, which we discuss later in this book. 4 This option opens the App Store. If updates are available for your Mac or any of its apps. 5 Hover your pointer over the Recent Items option to see…

Moving notifications to the Date and Time and combining them with widgets is a clever move on the part of Apple. All you need to do to view your notifications is to click on the Date and Time in the top-right of the desktop. If there are any, they appear at the top of the slide-in area that appears from the right-side of the screen. Notifications are grouped together depending on the app they’re coming from. For example, the News app displays notifications based on what news channels you’ve decided can send alerts to you. If you click on a notification in the group, the rest expand so you can see all the available notifications of that group. And clicking on a notification, whether it’s from Messages, News and so…

Setting Up Your iCloud Email 1 If you set up your Apple ID during your Mac’s initial setup, or if you signed in with an existing Apple ID, your iCloud email account is already in place. But if not, or if you want to add another iCloud email account to your Mail client, follow these instructions. 2 Open the Mail application from the Dock and then under the Mail drop-down menu found in the left of the menu bar, click on the Add Account… link. From the pop-up menu that appears, select the iCloud link and then click on the Continue button to go to the next step. 3 Now enter the Apple ID for the iCloud email account you want to add to your Mail app, and then the password. When you…

1 This is the sidebar, which lets you select mailboxes, see emails from VIP senders or those which you’ve flagged, and more. You can resize and even close this sidebar by clicking and dragging the divider between this and your emails list. 2 The list of emails contained in the currently selected mailbox, in this case, All Mailboxes. The number of emails in the box, and the number of unread emails, are shown. You can resize this column by clicking and dragging its left or right edge. 3 Click this circular icon to toggle between showing all emails and only unread emails. 4 This button downloads new emails. You can set your Mail app to check automatically but this button does so manually. 5 When you want to write a new email from scratch, click…

1 When you first open the News app, you see a sidebar and a main window. The sidebar’s Today option is selected, giving you a range of the day’s top stories. Click on a story to open it and read it in full. 2 When you open a news story, if it has a video it can be watched within the News app. In the File menu, there’s an option to open the story in Safari. This takes you to the web page from which the story was drawn. 3 The Special Coverage section gives you a selection of features chosen by Apple’s editors. If you find a story you particularly like or dislike, use the thumbs up/down icons in the top-right corner to improve future suggestions. 4 In the sidebar section titled ‘Suggested…

Changing the View 1 There are several different ways to view your calendars. To move between Day, Week, Month and Year views, you can use the corresponding buttons that appear in the top bar of the Calendar application. 2 The Year view shows you a complete year in a single window. Clicking on the title bar for any month takes you to its Month view. Double-click a specific day in either Year, Week or Month view to open its page in the Day view. 3 Click the Calendars button (top left) to open and close the sidebar, as shown here. This sidebar is visible regardless of whether you’re in Day, Week, Month or Year view and lets you mute or reveal individual calendars and more. 4 Click the Today button in the top right…

Setting Up Messages 1 Open Messages and sign in. Select Settings from the Messages menu in the top bar, click the iMessage tab and check all emails and phone numbers you wish to use in Messages. Check the Enable Messages in the iCloud box, to sync Messages with your other Apple gear. 2 In the General tab, you can change your Messages image, which appears on outgoing messages, to any picture on your Mac, as well as the Memoji that are available through macOS. You’re also able to create your own unique Memoji via the new Memoji Editor. Start a Conversation 1 To message someone you’re already chatting with, click their name on the left. To start a new message, click on the pencil and paper icon for a blank message. Type the…

Finding Places with Maps 1 To focus the view on your current location, click the arrow icon in the toolbar. The map zooms to your current whereabouts. To search for a specific location, type the address, postcode/zip code or road name into the search field. Possible matches are shown as you type. 2 You can search for a business by entering the business name or type, for example ‘Fast Food’, into the search field. Icons appear on the map indicating all matching businesses in the area. To get more information, click on an icon, then on any relevant information that accompanies it. Route Planning Explained 1 For directions, click the Directions button (arrow in a circle), and enter your start (if it’s not your current location), and finish points. Alternatively, search for your…

Setting Up and Using Freeform 1 First of all, make sure Freeform in iCloud is switched on. Open System Settings and go to [Your Name] > iCloud > Show More Apps, and if the Freeform option isn’t switched on, click on the switch to the right of its name. 2 Click on the pen-and-paper icon to open a new Freeform board. To share this board so you can collaborate on it, with all edits and additions appearing for everyone using the shared board, first tap the Share icon atop the board. 3 Tap ‘Only invited people can edit’ for pull-down menus that let you choose who can make edits, who can access the board and whether people you invite can also invite others. Set up the board’s permissions on these menus. 4 When you’re…

Wi-Fi Instant Hotspot 1 Instant Hotspot’s system requirements are stringent. A Mac must be mid-2012 or newer and running Yosemite or later. To find out when your Mac was made, click on the Apple icon in the top left and select About This Mac. An iOS device must be an iPhone 5 or later, iPad (4th gen) or later, an iPod touch (5th gen) or later or any iPad mini. 2 Make sure your Mac and all the devices you want to use with Instant Hotspot are signed into the same iCloud account. On an iPadOS or iOS device, open the Settings app and check your Apple ID atop the screen. On a Mac, open the System Settings (it’s in the Apple menu, left hand side of the menu bar),…

Storing Your Documents in iCloud 1 Click on your desktop to open Finder, then open iCloud Drive from the Go menu. You may need to log into iCloud using your Apple ID. You’ll see a Finder window showing the contents of your iCloud drive folder, with folders for some apps that store output in iCloud. 2 To save files of any type into your iCloud Drive folder, simply drag them from their current location (in this screenshot, that’s the desktop) and drop them in the open iCloud window. They are now stored remotely and accessible from any connected Apple device. 3 You can organise your iCloud folder like any other folder, including creating new folders within it. To move files into a new folder in your iCloud Drive, just drag and drop them…

Setting Up Siri 1 You might have activated Siri during the set up procedure. If not, under the Apple menu, select System Settings. Click on Siri in the sidebar. If it isn’t already on, click on Ask Siri’s switch. You can also set whether you use ‘Hey Siri’ to wake it, and other Siri options. 2 You can change the language that Siri understands and also speaks in using the pull-down menu. You can also change the English language voice from a British male to a female voice and a different accent, and set up a keyboard shortcut for Siri if you wish. 3 To launch Siri, click on the icon in the Dock, click on the menu bar icon if you’ve opted for one or press the keyboard shortcut, again if you…

Improved Keyboard and Dictation Integration Before macOS Sonoma, you had to choose between Dictation, that is, speaking what you want to type and having the Mac convert it into text, and typing it out on the keyboard. Better keyboard and Dictation integration now means you can seamlessly switch between these input methods. For example, you can use speech to text for your main input and switch to the keyboard to correct an error or add a non-standard word without switching Dictation off. To turn Dictation on, in the Apple menu select System Settings and go to Keyboard. Turn on the Dictation feature here, as well as selecting a language, mic source and if you wish, change the keyboard shortcut to activate it and turn it off again. When you’re ready…

Setting Up Touch ID 1 First of all, open the System Settings window. Click on doesn’t have the Touch ID feature. 2 To get started, click on the + icon captioned ‘Add Fingerprint’. You can add more than one print to Touch ID if you wish, but here, this is our first. 3 Type your admin password when asked, the one you use to unlock your Mac. As instructed, you must now place the finger you intend to register on the Touch ID sensor, on the top-right of the keyboard. 4 Keep raising and lifting your finger. As you can see, the grey fingerprint in the window gradually turns red, as Touch ID reads, analyses and records your fingerprint. Keep doing this until the centre section is full. 5 Touch ID now needs to cover…

One of the things that makes the Mac such a pleasure to use is its large and responsive MacBook multi-touch trackpad or the desktop Mac’s Magic Trackpad. You can use the trackpad in much the same way as you would use the touchscreen of an iPhone or iPad: to quickly and easily access menus, sort through stacks of pictures or documents, scroll through documents and to zoom in and out of displayed images. Once you get used to it, you’ll find that it’s a very easy and intuitive way of controlling your Mac and that it can do far more than just scrolling. Secondary Clicking. Some people like to use a two-button mouse with their Mac, and this can be handy for quick access to shortcut menus by secondary clicking…

1 Your Mac’s desktop often fills with files and folders you know you need regularly but that can mean a very cluttered workspace. To use Desktop Stacks, first click on the desktop to make sure Finder is active, then click on the View menu in the top bar. 2 From the View menu, select the Use Stacks option. Your files are stacked on the right-hand side of your desktop, according to their type. For example, images are stacked together, as are documents. To turn this off again go to View and click Use Stacks. 3 To open a stack on your desktop, click on it. The items contained in that stack are revealed, allowing you to access and open individual files. To close a stack again, click on the down-pointing triangle icon that…

1 Window Control Options: Use the gumdrops to close or minimise the window or open it in full-screen mode. We’ll cover this on the next page. 2 Navigation Controls: The chevron buttons in the top left corner of the window take you forwards or backwards through your navigation history. 3 View Options: These four buttons let you set-up how you view the files and folders in the Finder window; whether as icons, a list, in columns or as a cover flow which gives you a much larger visual preview. 4 Item Arrangement List: Click on the button shown here to order the contents of the window; according to date, alphabetically and more. 5 Share Button: The Share button is found in many places throughout macOS. Here you can highlight a file or folder and click…

Using Spotlight’s Features 1 Press cmd-space bar or click the magnifying glass in the top menu to open Spotlight. You can drag this window to wherever you want on the screen. Type your search query into Spotlight and answers appear, with suggestions based on the contents of your computer as well as other sources. 2 Spotlight can do conversions. To convert from imperial to metric (or vice versa) type in the number and a type of unit, such as kilograms or pounds and then click the chevron next to the top result. Spotlight offers other commonly used units. It works in a similar way with distances and lengths. 3 To do currency conversions at current market value, just type in the amount you want to convert followed by ‘in [new currency]’. Here, we…

From The App Store 1 Downloading new apps from the Mac App Store is the easiest way to get new software for your Mac. First open the App Store app; you can use the Apple menu to open this particular app, or the Dock, Launchpad or Apps folder. 2 You can use the Search field to look for an app by its name, what it does and more, or simply navigate the App Store using the categories in the left-hand sidebar. Note the filters, opened by clicking the chevron in the top right too. 3 Scroll up and down for more apps. If button to the right free, but might offer in-app purchases. A cloud symbol means you already bought it but it isn’t on your Mac; download it again for free. If…

1 Before you can make use of the Home app, you have to add HomeKit compatible devices. You can only do this from an iOS device, you can’t use your Mac. There’s a list of HomeKit compatible devices online at www.apple.co/2MFjhb3. 2 After adding some devices using your iOS device, you can access them through Home on the Mac. Right-click a device’s window and click the cog (bottom-right) for the Settings, and you can change the room they’re assigned to. 3 Click Automation in the sidebar and you can set timers, actions and more. What they do depends on what kit you’ve incorporated into your Home app. Click the + icon to add automations or groups of automations (scenes). 4 For example, you can use the Home app to control and configure speakers that…

1 Use this button to toggle between regular thumbnails of your photos, as seen here, and square-shaped images that leave little border. 2 This slider increases and decreases the size of your preview images. 3 Use these buttons to view your photos arranged according to the year, month, or day in which they were taken. 4 Click here to see all your photographs in the Photos app, arranged as thumbnails. Double-click on a thumbnail to open a photo, filling the application window. 5 Select or open a photo and then click the ‘i’ for the information window. Here you can review and edit where and when it was taken, add captions and more. 6 The Share button lets you add the picture to shared albums, send it using Mail, AirDrop, Messages and more, add it to…

Creating and Using Reminders 1 To create a new list, click the Add List link in the bottom left. Add a title, choose a colour and click on the smiley or the three lines to add an emoticon or an icon. Check the ‘Make into Smart List box’, if you want to create a Smart List based on tags or filters. 2 To add a reminder to a list, click the Plus button (top right). Add a name and, if you wish, tap the ‘i’ icon next to it to: add notes, a URL or a flag or tag, set a priority as low, medium or high and more. When you’ve carried out the task, tap the circle to its left to check and dismiss it. 3 Click a reminder then the ‘i’…

Using FaceTime 1 Click on the FaceTime app to launch the program. It should start straight away, and you’ll see your own face on the screen, as well as a panel inviting you to log in with your Apple ID. Type in your Apple ID password and click OK. 2 Next you’ll need to log on with your Apple ID. People can use your Apple ID email to call you through the FaceTime app. There might be a brief pause while FaceTime verifies your details and logs you on. 3 Before you make a video call, it’s a good idea to make sure they can see you properly. Using the camera view shown here, make sure there are no distracting bright lights behind you and your face is well lit. You…

Creating, Editing and Searching Notes 1 To create a new note, first of all, click on the pen-and-paper symbol found in the toolbar at the top of the Notes window. A new blank note appears. Start typing your note. The first line of a new note is used as its title in the notes list, so bear this in mind. 2 Your notes are listed in the left-hand pane. Click on a note to open it. To change the font or use bold, underline or italicise, select the text and right-click or ctrl-click for a menu; these options are found under Font. To attach an image, simply drag it onto the note or copy and paste it. 3 To search notes, use the search icon (the magnifying glass) in the top right. Searches…

Install Applications. When you’ve found an app you want to install, click on its icon to open the details page. To install the app, simply click the price button under the app’s title (or ‘Get’ for free apps), followed by the Install button that replaces it, then input your Apple ID. Redeem/Add Funds. In the App Store, if you scroll all the way to the bottom of the page, you see two buttons: Redeem and Add Funds to Apple ID. The Redeem button is for adding the value of an iTunes gift card to your account. Add Funds to Apple ID lets you pay money in by other means. Auto App Updates. You can update your apps in the background, removing the need to check for app updates manually. To…

Universal Control is available with compatible Macs and iPads running at least macOS Ventura and iPadOS 16 respectively. They have to be signed into the same iCloud account, and both must have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth switched on. When using Universal Control, you can drag your Mac’s pointer off the Mac’s screen and onto the iPad’s screen, and then operate the iPad with the keyboard and mouse/trackpad from your Mac. Unlike Sidecar, Apple’s earlier Continuity feature that let you use your iPad as a second screen for your Mac, Universal Control lets you use your iPad’s own apps and features, and even drag files between your computer and your tablet. Here’s how to set up and use Universal Control. On Your Mac • Open System Settings from the Apple menu (top…

1 To switch on iCloud Desktop Documents and Folders, open System Settings and click Apple ID > iCloud > iCloud Drive. Turn on the Desktop & Documents Folders option in the pop-up window. It may take time to set up. 2 On an iPhone or an iPad, first of all open the Files app. Go to the left-hand sidebar, under Locations (tap the chevron to its right to open it if necessary). Tap on iCloud, and then tap the Desktop folder. 3 Files on your Mac’s desktop can be accessed in this way through the iCloud Drive folder of any Mac or iOS/iPadOS device signed into the same Apple ID. All Macs must be running High Sierra or later, and all mobile devices must have iOS 10 or later. 4 You can also access…

Getting started 1 Connect an external hard drive, via USB, FireWire or Thunderbolt, to your Mac. It should be at least the size of your Mac’s hard drive. The larger the drive, the further back in time you will be able to store backups. ‘Open System Settings, click General in the side bar then click Time Machine. 2 Click the Add Backup Disk button and you’re presented with a window listing your connected drives. Select the drive on which you would like to store your backups. If your external drive isn’t already formatted as ‘Mac OS Extended (Journaled)’, Time Machine invites you to erase and reformat it. 3 You’re invited to add a password to encrypt your backups. This is optional – click the Encrypt Backup switch if you don’t want your…