Table of contents for Issue 131 in iPad & iPhone User

Apple recently held an education focused event at Lane Tech College Prep high school, Chicago, at which the firm introduced a new iPad, and made some education focused software announcements. Tim Cook took to the stage to discuss Apple’s focus on education, saying: “At Apple we care deeply about education because we love kids and we love teachers”. He said education has been a big part of who Apple is for 40 years. “We had a unique insight into how technology could inspire kids to unleash their creative genius. And we believed that technology could help teachers deliver a unique and personalized learning experience to all kids. We’ve never stopped believe this, and we’ve never stopped working on it.” Cook added: “We know our products can help bring out the…

Apple’s media event was unique, from the venue to the laser focus on a single topic to the lack of a live video stream. But like all Apple media events, some parties walked away strengthened – and others were left looking sad by the side of the road. The winners The iPad Apple hasn’t always shown the kind of love for the iPad that it has done for its much more successful cousin the iPhone, but this day was the iPad’s day to shine, and that’s an important day in any product’s life. The iPad has gained momentum since Apple split the product line in two, and both the £319 iPad and the pricey iPad Pro models have seemingly sold well. Apple’s cheapest and most popular model didn’t just win…

When Apple launched its £319 9.7in iPad last year, it was a play for people who wanted to play with their tablets. With today’s new update, Apple is showing that it’s a great tool for work too. That’s because the tech giant is adding support for Apple Pencil to the entry-level iPad, letting users write and draw on their new tablet just like they can on the Pro models. With the same tilt support and pressure sensitivity, Apple has turned its cheapest iPad into a device that’s darn close to the 10.5in iPad Pro, which costs nearly twice as much. Here are five reasons you might want to buy a £319 iPad instead of a £619 iPad Pro. 1. It has Apple Pencil support The big news today is obviously…

Fitness trackers, which are also called activity trackers, activity monitors or fitness bands, are like high-tech pedometers that can count your steps and then estimate the distance you’ve travelled and the calories you’ve burned. The biggest activity brand in the market is Fitbit, so we’ve also rounded up the best Fitbit trackers, but below you’ll find more general advice, and the best trackers from any manufacturer. You can use fitness trackers to monitor your activity, but the general idea is that they spur you on to exercise more, helping you to get fitter and/or lose weight. Many are great for monitoring your sleep, too – which is being regarded by medical experts as a key health indicator. Most fitness trackers have a display that shows you steps and calories information,…

iOS 11.3 has been released. First previewed by Apple in January, the release has gone through six beta releases, over which many of the features have appeared and disappeared. It is available for iPhone, iPad, and HomePod, and is accompanied by updates for Apple’s other devices: tvOS 11.3 for Apple TV and WatchOS 4.3 for Apple Watch. Notably absent from this release is AirPlay 2, which will surely disappoint all the HomePod early adopters. Also missing is Messages in iCloud, first promised for iOS 11 back at WWDC back in June 2017. The feature was available in the latest beta, but has been removed from the final 11.3 release. What’s in iOS 11.3? Battery and Performance (beta) As promised, Apple has brought much-needed power management to the battery settings in…

Recent rumours suggest that Apple has been researching a new display type known as MicroLED for several years, and is quite far along. We could start seeing Apple-produced MicroLED displays in Apple Watch within the next two years, with phones and maybe even tablets. Be cautiously optimistic about this new display technology. MicroLEDs have the potential to be superior to OLED in many ways, and could be the dominant display technology in new products in a decade. Here’s why MicroLED is worth getting excited about. Thinner than OLED One of the big advantages of OLED displays over traditional LCDs is that they’re thinner, and MicroLED should be thinner still. Traditional LCD screens, like those on every iPhone (except the iPhone X) and iPad, are comprised of several layers. The little…

The past month was a huge one for iOS game releases, as two of the world’s most popular PC and console games made their way to iPhone and iPad. Fortnite and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds both brought their raucous 100-player online shootouts to iOS this month, and they both play impressively well on touch. Looking for something different? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered: March also delivered such highlights as Part-Time UFO, The Sims Mobile, .projekt, and more, and we’ve 10 of the month’s top releases. 1. Fortnite Price: £4.99 from fave.co/2IumVxW Fortnite is the biggest game in the world right now. In February alone, the free-to-play battle royale sensation racked up $126 million from in-game purchases and gained plenty of mainstream attention all the while. Also, it’s super fun – and…

If you’ve just bought a new iPhone 8 or 8 Plus or X, or been handed down a family member’s old iPhone, here are some simple tips and advice for setting it up. The first question is this: are you upgrading from an older iPhone, or is this your first such device? If you’re moving from another iPhone and want to transfer the data and settings, proceed to Step 1. If you’re moving from a non-Apple phone, go to Step 5. And if this is your first smartphone, or if you’d like to set it up as a new device without transferring any old data, go to Step 6. 1. Back up your old iPhone If you’re upgrading from an older iPhone, you can transfer all of its apps, data…

As we’ve seen iOS 11.3 is finally here after more than two months of beta testing. It added several new features, including battery health and performance settings, four new Animoji, Business Chat and Health Records betas, and a bit upgrade to ARKit. Two big features we’ve been waiting on since the release of iOS 11 last year were notably absent: AirPlay 2 and Messages in iCloud. Both features were included in beta, but were cut from the final release. Those features are unlikely to get pushed back to iOS 12 (due for release this autumn), which means iOS 11 will have yet another point release. Here’s what we know so far about iOS 11.4: what’s in it, how the betas are progressing, when it will be released, and how to…

Now that we officially know the dates of WWDC 2018 (4 to 8 June), we can start the countdown to iOS 12. Barring a massive change in its release schedule, Apple will unveil the next version of iOS during the kick-off keynote on 4 June, with several rounds of developer and public betas to follow. But this year’s release might be a little different. For the past month we’ve been reading rumours that Apple is scaling back some of iOS 12’s planned features to focus on the things that matter most, namely performance and stability. Apple had a rocky start with iOS 11, as several high-profile bugs caused iPhones to type random digits, reboot without warning, and just straight up crash. Consequently, iOS 12 needs to do as much work…

Apple Pencil Price: £89 from fave.co/2q8oD1A If you have an iPad Pro or the new 2018 edition of the 9.7in iPad, then there’s one obvious choice, and that’s the Apple Pencil (pictured above), by Apple itself. It’s a solid hunk of white plastic that fits neatly in the hand and oozes quality. Apple built it, so it offers features other stylus makers can’t match, such as a screen response rate that doubles when you bring the stylus close to the display (making the ink appear to flow from the nib). Another unique feature is the nib, which you can use on its side to shade, like you would with a pencil. It’s also easier to set up than other styluses: plug the Lightning connector into your iPad and the wireless…

i Phone viruses are rare. In fact, we should probably point out first of all that it’s unlikely that your iPhone (or iPad, for that matter) really has a virus – it’s more likely that you’re seeing a misbehaving advert in an app you use regularly, triggering behaviour that is intended to convince you that iOS is infected and you need to download an app to fix it, or redirecting you to a dodgy web page or a dodgy app on the App Store. However, malware of one kind or another does exist for iOS, even though it remains extremely rare, and if you’re sure your iDevice has a virus, worm or other form of malware, read on to find out how to remove it, as well as how to…

Life still contains an incredible amount of paper. Many bills, receipts, important letters, statements, and documents clutter our houses, even when stored neatly in binders. But, as a famous company once said, there’s an app for that. Here we show you how use your iPhone to scan and digitise documents, then convert the words on the page to fully searchable, editable, text on a screen. Scan text using Microsoft’s Office Lens There are a number of scanner apps available on the iPhone, but one of our favourites is Office Lens by Microsoft. The app is free from fave.co/2H7UPM1 and can capture text from documents, business cards, photos, and even a whiteboard, which makes it perfect for instant notes at the end of a planning meeting. Office Lens has the very…