Table of contents for September 1, 2015 in Macworld UK

Apple Music is now available as part of iOS 8.4. Over the following pages, we’ll talk you through the setup process, explain how to decide which Membership Plan is right for you and help Apple Music get to know you. In addition to this, we’ve also put together a complete guide to Apple Music’s features to help you make the most out of your free trial, as well as our top Apple Music tips. How to set up Apple Music If you’ve downloaded and installed iOS 8.4, you should notice that your Music app icon looks a little different. It’s now white with a rainbow-coloured note rather than orangey-red with a white note. Tap that icon and you’ll be greeted by the Apple Music logo, followed by a page that…

After signing up for your free three-month trial of Apple Music, you’ve probably made some playlists, scoped out the app’s recommended albums, and listened to Beats 1 for awhile. So now what? We’ve combed through Apple Music to find the neat little features that can make your streaming experience better – and no, we’re not just talking about banishing Connect altogether, though you can do that, too. Listen to Beats 1 playlists off the air If you’re getting frustrated with Beats 1 radio because you keep missing all the great parts, such as Zane Lowe’s first hour spinning music on the station or St. Vincent’s Mixtape Delivery Service, don’t worry – you can listen to them later. The easiest way to do this is using Connect to follow Beats 1’s…

Apple Music might be the most un-Apple product the company has ever released. The people who rushed to download iOS 8.4 just to be among the first to sign up for the three-month free trial didn’t find the revolutionary and pioneering features that usually accompany Apple releases. If you’ve ever used Spotify or Beats, Apple Music is pretty much exactly what you would expect from a modern streaming service: Lots of songs, unique playlists, and genre-based radio stations. That’s not to say it’s bad. Apple has exploded onto the streaming landscape with an excellent music client that elevates the user interface and experience, but truth be told, there isn’t much about the core concept that you can’t get elsewhere. A little Spotify, a dash of I Heart Radio, and a…

Available to 365 subscribers Boxed product (download) available in September Contact microsoft.com/en-gb Specifications OS X 10.10 or later Increasingly a gem in the Office crown to rival big-hitters like Word, Outlook’s new-found performance is almost worth the price of admission alone. It’s like somebody’s squirted WD-40 into the older Outlook app. Put simply, there’s no longer any waiting around while you scroll through emails, or select messages buried deep in your inbox. Searching is also much faster, even on older Macs. The new Ribbon-only interface complete with blue status bar also looks good. It’s clean and there’s little trouble finding where features are, or finding out what’s Outlook is up to in the background. The downside is that Outlook is still a tool focussed on accessing Exchange servers –…

Photos for Mac is finally out. And that’s a real “finally” given how long we’ve all been wrestling with the limitations of iPhoto in OS X and Apple’s early announcement of its replacement. Photos for OS X has a lot going for it, especially in speed. But it’s also a ground-up rewrite of our Mac photo experience, and some pieces are missing, some moved, and some broken. Here we’ll answer some of your questions. Merging libraries Several people have asked how to cope with multiple existing iPhoto libraries. Harald wrote, “Do I import them one after another into the new Photos for Mac? And which one will be the default System Photo Library?” Like iPhoto, Photos can load just one library at a time and only convert libraries to its…

As you will no doubt have gathered, Apple Pay is now available in the UK. You can use it to buy a coffee at Costa, pay for journeys on the London Underground (see page 78), or settle your bill for a cheeky Nando’s with nothing more than a tap of your iPhone or Apple Watch on a regular contactless reader. You can also use it in apps – but not on websites – to pay for downloads, tickets, and physical products scheduled for delivery. But is it Apple Pay safe? The short answer is yes. Apple wants us to think of its payment gateway the same way we think about PayPal or Visa. After all, it’s only through gaining our trust that it will win our custom, and without our…

Like System Preferences on a Mac, Settings on your iPhone or iPad offers access to tools for adjusting screen brightness, setting up a password, configuring your Wi-Fi, and more. But in addition, you will also find options for handling phone calls and mobile broadband, as well as many additional security features that protect your personal files, photos and other information. So here’s our guide to the main settings that you need to know about in iOS 8. How to change settings If you are new to the iPhone (or iPad), you may not know that it is possible to make various adjustments to the settings of your device. To do so, tap on the Settings icon on your Home Screen, the one that looks like a cog. Access Control Centre…

Welcome to Macworld’s in-depth guide to every Mac, iPad, iPhone and iPod that Apple makes, as well as other hardware and software that comes out of Apple’s HQ in Cupertino, California. The first two pages offer a quick summary, with detailed looks on the following pages. Apple makes six different kinds of Mac, and each has subcategories and variations in specs and features. Some Macs are faster and more powerful, while other Macs have slower processors but are cheaper. This guide should help you identify which Mac best suits your needs. There are now four different iPhones and five iPads to choose from, along with a collection of iPods and the Apple TV. Plus, we should soon see the launch of the Apple Watch. Read on to understand every product…

There are four standard MacBook Air models available, in two sizes. In March 2015, each MacBook Air was updated and now offers a 1.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM and Intel HD Graphics 6000 as standard. There are also build-to-order options that let you add a faster Intel processor (the 2.2GHz dual-core i7, for £130), more storage (512GB SSD for £240) and 8GB of RAM (for £80). The only real differences between the different models are the size of the screen, the amount of storage and battery life. Both the 11in and 13in MacBook Air offer either 128GB or 256GB SSD options. The 11in MacBook Air offers nine hours of battery life, compared with the 12 hours of the 13in MacBook Air. The 11in MacBook Air weighs…

You may think the iMac was only recently updated, with a new 5K Retina iMac joining the one introduced in October 2014. However, the rest of the iMac range, with the exception of the £899 model introduced in June 2014, has not been updated since September 2013. The iMac line-up includes three 21.5in versions, one 27in model and two Retina 27in systems. The £899 entry-level 21.5in iMac has a 1.4GHz dual-core i5 chip, 8GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive. Next up is an iMac that for another £150 gives you a faster 2.7GHz i5, 8GB of RAM and a 1TB hard drive. For another £150, the top-of-the-range 21.5in iMac offers a 2.9GHz i5, 8GB of RAM and a 1TB hard drive. All the 27in iMacs also offer quad-core…

When the iPhone 5c launched in 2013 it disappointed some who were hoping for a low-cost smartphone from Apple. At launch the iPhone 5c cost £469 – only £80 less than the equivalent iPhone 5s. Months later the company introduced a 8GB version of the 5c for £429. Now that same 8GB version of the iPhone 5c costs £319, a saving of £110. The big question, though, is whether £319 now represents a good price for the iPhone 5c. If you are determined to buy an iPhone but don’t want to spend a lot, then the iPhone 5c might be worth considering. If price is your main concern, it’s also worth looking around for a second-hand iPhone, or you may find you can get a good deal on a new…

Apple sells three types of iPod: the iPod shuffle, the iPod nano and the iPod touch. The iPod touch is far more than just a simple music player. It comes equipped with essentially all the features of a fully fledged iPhone bar the call capabilities. The iPod nano is also a capable device, and small enough to carry anywhere, while the iPod shuffle is simple, inexpensive and tough. Apple quietly retired the original iPod classic in October 2014, after seven years of faithful service. With the iPod classic now a distant memory, those wanting a large amount of storage on their iPod will find the options rather limiting. Currently, the iPod shuffle offers a humble 2GB of storage, while the iPod nano boasts a rather more spacious 16GB. It’s worth…

The Apple TV is a connected set-top box, measuring 23mm by 98mm by 98mm and weighing 27g, that offers access to iTunes TV shows and movies, as well as content from Netflix, YouTube and Vimeo. You can also stream content to your TV from your Mac, iPhone and iPad. It costs £59. The Apple TV isn’t a TV in the normal sense of the word, because it doesn’t have free-to-air channels or a digital video recorder to store shows to watch at a more convenient time. However, it does offer what could be described as channels, and this content keeps on growing, leaving us hopeful for a future where the Apple TV will include links to on-demand services just like our iPhones and iPads do – think the iPlayer and…

Apple Pay finally arrived in the UK on 14 July. A first tier of UK banks offered Apple Pay support immediately, including NatWest and Nationwide, but a second wave will have to wait until later in the year. Notable holdouts include Barclays and, surprisingly, HSBC. The latter was expected to be one of Apple Pay’s launch partners, but the bank announced it wouldn’t support the service until the end of July. Barclays has its own contactless payment service, bPay, but reversed its opposition to Apple Pay on launch day with a supportive tweet that read: “We are really excited about the launch of Apple Pay and will bring Barclays debit cards and Barclaycard credit cards to Apple Pay in the future.” Aside from HSBC, six more banks will sign on…

It felt a bit like software Christmas on 9 July, with public betas of OS X El Capitan and a final version of Microsoft Office 2016 for Mac shipping to Office 365 subscribers (read our reviews on page 62). Your iPhone and iPad aren’t neglected, though – Apple also launched the public beta of iOS 9. A beta is a beta, so don’t get swept up in the excitement and forget that this software isn’t final and could have bugs. You might want to think twice about putting it on your everyday iPhone or Mac. That said, developers have already seen several betas of both iOS 9 and Mac OS X El Capitan and there haven’t been any major problems. The beta software programme started with OS X 10.10 Yosemite…

Apple Music is Apple’s new music streaming service. Aiming to take on the likes of Spotify and Tidal, it arrived on 30 June as part of the iOS 8.4 update. It comes in the form of a complete overhaul of the Music app, and being a completely new service, it takes a bit of getting used to. Here, we talk you through all of Apple Music’s features in our complete guide. For You The ‘For You’ section of the Apple Music app, which is accessible by clicking the heart icon in the bottom-left of the screen, is where Apple presents music and videos that it thinks you will love, based on what’s in your music library and the genres and artists you chose during the initial setup process. Here, we’ll…

If you have an iTunes Match subscription, and you’ve updated to the latest version of iTunes (12.2), you may have had a bit of a surprise. There is scant mention of iTunes Match in the iTunes interface, and it can be confusing trying to figure out how iTunes Match works in the new iTunes landscape. If you’ve signed up for Apple Music, then it can be even more confusing, since Apple Music also matches tracks the way iTunes Match does. Here’s an overview of how these two services work in iTunes and on iOS, and how they work together. While iTunes Match lets you download your music files and play them anywhere, Apple Music adds DRM to your files. Independent but complementary On the membership section of the Apple Music…

If you’ve been left unimpressed by the new Music app, you may be wondering whether you can return to the version of the app you had in iOS 8.3. Unfortunately, you can’t. On the plus side, you can scrub a lot of the Apple Music stuff out by turning off the app. To do so, head to Settings, scroll down to Music, and tap that for the Music app’s settings. You’ll see a ‘Show Apple Music’ slider. Turn it off. This won’t delete your Apple Music account or destroy your Apple Music collection, saved playlists or anything. The service will remain visible on any other device you have it enabled on. If your trial is already over and you’re now paying monthly, you’ll still be charged monthly. You just won’t…

With Windows 8 hardly setting the world on fire, and Windows 10 just an iterative version of its predecessor Franken-system, Microsoft can expect customers to opt instead for the Apple Mac with its user friendly OS X platform. Here we answer the top 10 questions that new switchers ask about how to use Apple’s powerful OS. There are many reasons to switch to a Mac: beautiful hardware, seamless compatibility with your iPhone or iPad, and the incredibly powerful OS X – now in the process of migrating from Yosemite to El Capitan). Apple computers do things a little differently than those running Windows though, so here we answer 10 of the most common questions we’re asked by new users exploring OS X for the first time. 1. Right-click on a…

£9.99 per month Contact apple.com/uk Specifications iTunes 12.2 or later; iOS 8.4 or later £9.99 per month Contact spotify.com/uk Specifications OS X 10.7 or later; iOS 7 or later When Apple Music was unveiled at WWDC 2015, Spotify’s CEO and founder Daniel Ek tweeted just two words: “Oh okay.” The tweet was soon deleted, but it could well indicate that the company is worried by Apple’s venture into the music streaming market that Spotify has dominated for several years. Here we compare the two music streaming services, looking at what they have in common as well as their differences. Price Apple is currently offering a free three-month trial, so you can check out the service before you decide whether it’s right for you. After the trial period has…

Available to 365 subscribers Boxed product (download) available in September Contact microsoft.com/en-gb Specifications OS X 10.10 or later As with other apps in the new Office, updates to PowerPoint are there largely to keep it synced with the Windows release. Thus you get the same collaborative/coauthoring tools, plus the ability to connect with OneDrive, as well as new slide transitions. There’s only one big new feature outside of the global updates, which is a pane that appears at the right of the screen when an animation is applied to an on-screen element. Previously, what there were of these options were scrunched-up at the right of the Animations ribbon or assigned to the now-banished Inspector/Toolbox floating window (provided you had it open or even knew of its existence). With a…

The easiest way to explain what Glances is to compare them to Widgets in the Notification Centre on your iOS device. Much like widgets, the glance feature is designed to give you snippets of information that you can glance at to gain a quick overview, without getting your iPhone out of your pocket. That’s one of the main purposes of the Apple Watch; spend less time interacting with your iPhone, and more time interacting with the world around you. Glances can have a variety of functions, and they’re easily accessed – just swipe up from the bottom of the display on the watch face. Glances can include information about the weather or traffic updates for your journey home. Add Glances It’s an easy process to add Glances to your Apple…

Homido VR headset £59 homido.com The Homido headset can bring virtual reality to almost any iPhone without the need for batteries or even Bluetooth. Your iPhone slots into the front of the headset and is used as the headset’s computer and display – simply open one of the many VR apps available on the App Store and you’ll be in a virtual world in no time. The distance between the two lenses can be adjusted to suit your eyes, and Homido also provides extra vision settings for those who are near- or farsighted. It provides you with a 100-degree field of view to make that roller coaster ride or trip to Mars a truly immersive experience. SteelSeries Stratus XL £59 steelseries.com The latest iOS gaming controller from SteelSeries has the…

Reviews are the lifeblood of online sales – as buyers, we rely heavily on the opinions of others to help inform our decisions. Sure, we research potential purchases first, but ultimately the one-to five-star ratings beside the things we want to purchase are often the final arbiters over whether we add something to our carts or move along. When it comes to the App Store, that rudimentary rating system is taken to the utmost degree. Our window to buy is often measured in seconds, and the majority of our purchases are based on impulse rather than need. Even if you’re looking for a specific kind of game or utility, the star rating holds a disproportionate amount of weight, especially when the app you’re considering is sandwiched between a dozen search…

It’s easy to buy a brand-new Mac, iPad or iPhone from Apple. The simplest way is to got to store.apple.com/uk to purchase from theonline store. Here you will find every currentMac, iPad and iPhone, and lots of accessories. Alternatively, if you’d prefer to try the product out, you could walk into the Apple Store on your high street or in your closest shopping mall. Not sure where your closest Apple Store is located? Apple has stores all overthe country, 39 in total, and you can look for your local store at apple.com/uk/retail. Unfortunately, as a rule Macs are not cheapbut if you are looking for a bargain you can also pick up a Mac, iPad or iPhone second-hand from Apple. It’s possible to buy refurbished Apple Macs, iPads, and other…

There are five standard Retina MacBook Pro models available, in two sizes, as well as a non-Retina MacBook Pro, which we will cover at the bottom of this page. In March 2015, Apple updated the 13in models, and in May 2015 it updated the 15in models. The key selling point is the Retina display, so called because it delivers maximum optical quality – the human eye is unable to distinguish any more pixels. That make a Retina display about as precise as you can get, ideal for creative work. The 13in model offers 2560x1600 Retina resolution at 227 pixels perinch, while the 15in model offers 2880x1800 resolution at 220 pixels perinch. Unlike the MacBook Air range, the five Retina MacBook Pro models are substantially different in terms of spec, with…

Having neglected the Mac Pro for a few years, Apple eventually updated the line-up at the end of 2013. That leaves us with two standard Mac Pro models – a quad-core 3.7GHz Intel Xeon E5 (£2,499) and a six-core 3.5GHz Intel Xeon E5 (£3,299). As well as sporting more cores and a different processor, the top-of-the range Mac Pro also features 16GB of RAM (rather than 12GB) and faster graphics cards – the Dual AMD FirePro D500 with 3GB of GDDR5 VRAM each (rather than the Dual AMD FirePro D300 with 2GB GDDR5 of VRAM). These are dual graphics cards, one of the selling points of the Mac Pro. Apple claims that with the additional power, users will be able to “seamlessly edit full-resolution 4Kvideo while simultaneously rendering effects in…

It seems that Apple has no immediate plans to kill its range of MP3 players. On 15 July, the company refreshed the iPod touch, nano and shuffle, though only the touch had a big overhaul. All three iPods are available in gold, dark blue and pink, though the iPod touch is the only model to get new features under the hood. The touch comes with iOS 8.4 and access to Apple Music, which isn’t surprising, but the new version also adds a 128GB model to the line-up for the first time for £329. A 16GB touch costs £159, a 32GB model will set you back £199, while the 64GB option is priced £249. All models are available in store, with Apple throwing in free next-day delivery if you’d prefer to…

After years of treating the Mac as an also-ran, Microsoft has changed its tune: it formally released Office 2016 for the Mac on 9 July, even before it released it for Windows. The only catch? If you’re not already an Office 365 subscriber, you’ll be forced to wait until September. If you do subscribe to Microsoft Office 365 subscription service, obtaining the new software should be a snap. It includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook, with a Mac-like feel to it all. In the intervening five years since Microsoft last released a version of Office for the Mac (Office 2011), numerous other office suites have put down stakes on the Mac, not least of which has been Apple’s own iWork productivity suite. But Microsoft’s argument is that, with Office,…

If you are interested in accessing Apple Music this article explains how to sign up to the service. You’ll also need to check your iOS device has iOS 8.4 and your Mac has iTunes 12.2. iOS 8.4 Go to General -> Software Update and tap ‘Download and install’. It’s important to free up some space prior to updating as some update files can be quite large. You’ll also need to have either (at least) 50 percent battery left on your device. iTunes 12.2 Apple Music is also available on your Mac, via the iTunes 12.2 update. To get it, open the Mac App Store, and click Updates in the bar along the top of the window. You should see ‘Updates are available for your computer’, one of which will include…

If you’re reading this article, the chances are you’re thinking about buying a new MacBook and may be in need of some guidance. Fortunately, we’re familiar with Apple’s laptops, and we’re happy to help you choose the right one for you. This guide provides an overview of all the models available, and what each one is best suited for. The MacBook Air is a great affordable laptop for anyone who does general-purpose work and needs a lightweight system for the daily commute MacBook Air What is it? The Air is Apple’s affordable line of laptops. It’s available in two screen sizes: 11in (1.08kg) and 13in (1.35kg). Who’s it for? It’s ideal for the budget conscious, and for anyone who is always on the go, doesn’t want to be bogged down…

Taking a screenshot on an Apple Watch – like taking a screenshot on an iPhone or iPad, or taking a screenshot on a Mac – is reassuringly simple: you press the Digital Crown and the side button at the same time. You’ll hear a shutter sound effect, the screen will blink white, and a static image of whatever was on the screen at the time is saved for later sharing and/or editing. Apple clearly recognises how important it is for users to be able to grab screenshots from their devices and share them on social media, or send them to knowledgeable friends to seek advice about technical problems. So taking the screenshot itself is easy, but where does the image get saved? If you’ve looked in the Photos app in…

Apple Pay has officially launched in the UK. Finally, it’s possible to pay for goods and services by tapping your iPhone or Apple Watch to a card reader. In this article, we explain how to set up Apple Pay with your bank account and how to use it to pay for goods and services in the UK. Which Apple devices work with Apple Pay? If you wish to make purchases in shops, you’ll need either an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus, which are the only iPhones equipped with the requisite NFC radio antennas, or an Apple Watch. They also have Touch ID, which is used to verify payments. Because the iPhone 5s lacks an NFC chip, it won’t work with Apple Pay, even though it does have Touch ID. You…

The WWDC keynote in June included a very significant update to Apple’s Maps app in iOS 9: public transport directions. Starting this autumn, we’ll be able to use Maps to figure out a route to our destination that includes buses, the underground and trains. And it’s been a long time coming. Since 2012 – when Google Maps was kicked to the curb in iOS 6 – Apple Maps has had a tab suggesting third-party apps (such as Google Maps) to get public transportation routes. The transit update in iOS 9 marks an important step for Apple and its Maps service not having to rely on third parties to provide such a core smartphone functionality. It took them three years. You’d think that after all this time Maps would have an…

There are actually two standard MacBook models available, both with a 12in screen (measured diagonally). Dimensions for both unit are identical: 28.05cm by 19.65cm, and 3.5mm at the edge tapering to 131mm thick (theMacBook Air tapers from 17mm to just 3mm). The new MacBook weighs less than a kilogram at 920g. The key difference between the two modelsis the amount of storage available, andthe speed of the processor, although the most obvious difference is that there are threecolour choices: gold, silver and space grey, just like the iPhone. The entry-level MacBook unit offers a 1.1GHz dual-core Intel Core M processor (Turbo Boost up to 2.4GHz), and 256GB PCIe-based flash storage. The other MacBook unit offers a 1.2GHz dual-core Intel Core M processor (Turbo Boost up to 2.6GHz), and 512GB PCIe-based…

Two years after Apple last updated the Mac mini, it revamped its entry-level Mac and lowered prices. That October 2014 revamp resulted in three models of Mac mini. The cheapest of the three Mac mini models has the same 1.4GHz dual-core processor and integrated graphics chip to be found on the MacBook Air and the entry-level iMac, so it’s no surprise that the new Mac mini’s processor and graphics performance is close to that of the current MacBook Air range and practically identical to the new £899 iMac. The MacBook Air has the edge due to its flash storage, while the Mac mini and iMac still feature a hard drive as standard. The other two Mac minis offer Intel dual-core i5 2.6GHz and 2.8GHz processors with Intel Iris graphics. These…

With so many Macs to choose from, each with very different features and specs, it can get a little tricky when it comes to deciding which Mac to buy. How do you know which Mac is best for you? Should you buy a Mac mini, an iMac or a Mac Pro? Or would you be better off with a MacBook, MacBook Air or a Retina MacBook Pro? Which Mac is best for you really depends on your needs and how much you are prepared to spend to meet them. As a rule Macs are more expensive than PCs, but that’s really because there are more low-cost PCs available. If you want a laptop that costs less than £300, then you will have to settle on a PC (or find yourself…

With four iPhones and four iPads to choose from, each with very different specs, it can be tricky to decide which iOS device to buy. Those who want a ‘phablet’ experience – midway between a phone and a small tablet – might be interested in the iPhone 6 Plus. Fans of gaming and movies will also like the 6 Plus’s big screen. Some business users may find the big screen good for productivity apps. The 6 Plus is likely to be the phone of choice for early adopters and others who like to have the latest thing, and for those ona big budget. If the iPhone 6 Plus is a bit too big (and more than a few buyers have found this), then you might go for the smaller iPhone…

Apple unveiled the Apple Watch back in September 2014, band finally went on sale on24 April 2015. The best news here is that Apple’s not just launching a smartwatch but a whole raft of smartwatches. By combining the three different Apple Watch categories, the two different face sizes, and the accompaniment of straps, there is the potential for 38 different Apple Watches, so there will be a style to suit anybody. And crucially, since Apple is offering two watch face sizes, the Apple Watch will be as comfortable on a female wrist as it is a man’s. Where other companies have failed to come up with a smartwatch design that suits anyone, Apple has solved the issue by coming up with multiple designs to suit everybody. Rather than try and…