Table of contents for June 2021 in Macworld UK

Apple’s Spring Loaded event might have been a big deal for Apple with the launch of the M1 iMac, iPad Pro and AirTag trackers (more on these later), but one of Apple’s MacBook suppliers didn’t have such a good day. Bloomberg reports that Quanta Computer Inc, a key supplier for Apple’s MacBooks, was hit with a $50 million ransomware attack by a well-known dark web hacking group REvil. After refusing to pay the exorbitant sum, REvil made good on its threat. As Bloomberg reports, the group “posted schematics for a new laptop, including 15 images detailing the guts of what appears to be a MacBook designed as recently as March 2021”. Bloomberg didn’t divulge what was in the documents, but Macrumours, which also saw the schematics after they were published,…

While music streaming services have long been the subject of artists’ and labels’ ire over low rates and onerous terms, Apple Music might be their biggest advocate. In a post on Apple Music’s artist dashboard obtained by The Wall Street Journal, Apple divulged that it pays out a penny per stream whenever subscribers play a song. That might not seem like much, but it’s actually significantly higher than other services, including Spotify, its biggest competitor and the largest streaming service. Spotify launched a website last month to defend its rates, boasting that it has paid “over $23 billion in royalties to rights holders” as of 2020. However, that works out to less than half a cent per stream. Unlike Apple Music, Spotify has an ad-supported free tier that contributes to…

There’s no denying that the new M1 iMac is an awesome machine. A tremendous upgrade over the previous generation, it finally injects some much-needed excitement into Apple’s consumer desktop line and sets the stage for what the iMac will be for years to come. But Apple can’t go another decade without making a few meaningful changes to the new model. While we absolutely recommend buying one right now over any other iMac, the new model didn’t quite live up to our admittedly lofty expectations. Here are six ways the new iMac still falls short: 1. THE M1 CHIP IS JUST OKAY As expected, the new iMac got a dose of Apple silicon, and we have no doubt that it’ll be insanely fast, especially compared to the previous Intel Core…

Nobody needed to convince me that Apple’s at the top of its game when it comes to designing iPad hardware. The 2018 iPad Pro was so fast that more than two years later, it can handle more or less anything that you can throw at it. The 2020 iPad Pro was essentially the same speed – and it didn’t matter. So here comes the 2021 iPad Pro, which is an even more extreme dunk in terms of features. Adding an M1 processor isn’t going to add the same boost as it did on the Mac side, because the iPad Pro was always powered by an energy-efficient Apple processor. But it’s still an upgrade of two processor generations, and that matters. A new display on the larger model allows Apple to…

Apple recently opened up its Find My network to third-party device makers, but that’s not stopping the company from making its own item tracker. We’ve heard rumours about AirTags since around 2019, and the company has finally released them. They’re pretty simple, really: you add the AirTag to your account, attach it to some object, and then the Find My app will tell you where it is in the Items tab. Since nearly all modern Apple products can passively (and privately) use their Bluetooth radios to locate lost devices, you’ll have a pretty good chance of locating something that you accidentally leave somewhere. You can locate devices in real time, and also set a device to ‘Lost Mode’, which will notify you and display an optional phone number and message…

If you have no plans for this weekend, Apple has something for you. The company has announced a major expansion of its Apple Arcade service, adding over 30 new and classic games, as well as a couple of new game categories to help you peruse the library that now includes over 180 titles. This is the first time Apple has allowed games to exist in both the App Store and Apple Arcade, and represents a major concession for the service. The games still don’t allow in-app purchases, but otherwise offer the same gameplay and experience despite having a separate entry in the store. Apple Arcade’s new Timeless Classics category features digital versions of all-time favourite, with some offering a new take on a game, such as Really Bad Chess, which…

Apple’s Spring Loaded event absolutely lived up to its name, bringing a slew of new products, from the colourful 24in iMac to the 12.9in iPad Pro’s gorgeous Liquid Retina XDR display. But now that it’s over, we can turn our attention to the rest of the year. Here are all the products we’re expecting Apple to announce before the calendar turns to 2022. MAY-JUNE AirPods (3rd generation) We initially thought that new AirPods were coming at the Spring Loaded event, but Apple opted to skip audio products entirely. But based on the leaks and the rumours, they could arrive at any time between now and the iPhone event in the autumn. Seemingly accurate images leaked months ago showing a pair of earbuds that look a lot like the AirPods Pro,…

The Mac is one of the most reliable PCs you can buy, which is probably why there’s a heightened sense of anxiety when you press the power button and nothing happens. But take a deep breath. When your Mac won’t start, there are a number of reasons why, and most likely, it’s an easy fix. Apple has a support document (fave.co/3tWMWhL) with advice on what to do when your Mac won’t turn on, but we’re going to give you a little more detail and a few more things to check. So be sure to bookmark this page for when it inevitably happens again. Before we start, let this be a lesson to keep a backup. Whether you use a cloud service, store important files on iCloud Drive, or use Time…

GOT A MAC WITH A SD CARD SLOT? DON’T RELY ON IT AS A STORAGE UPGRADE Spinning disks are slow and solid-state drives (SSDs) used to cost a digital arm and a leg. That led many people to stick with hard drives or purchase Macs with low-capacity SSDs – like 250GB or 500GB – because the next increment up added many hundreds of pounds to the cost. (I’m sitting here with a 2017 iMac with a 1TB Fusion drive, so I am one of you.) If you’ve got an hard drive in your Mac or a low-capacity SSD, you are surely tempted to update your system, adding speed or capacity. And some of you might be tempted to trim costs on that upgrade by using an SD Card (typically in…

AirDrop is a convenient way to share files and photos with the people around you, but a team of security researchers is warning that a flaw could allow strangers to steal your personal information even if they’re locked out of the system. The ‘significant privacy leak’ was uncovered by researchers from the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany, who claim they informed Apple about the leak nearly two years ago but it still exists. According to the report, the user doesn’t even need to share a file to be vulnerable: “As an attacker, it is possible to learn the phone numbers and email addresses of AirDrop users – even as a complete stranger. All they require is a Wi-Ficapable device and physical proximity to a target that initiates the discovery…

Silver and black had a good 13-plus-year run, but at its Spring Loaded event, Apple put an end to it and started a colourful new chapter for its all-in-one Mac, the iMac. The colours aren’t all that’s new; the iMac features Apple’s new M1 system on a chip, new sizes, and a lot more. Here are the top five features of Apple’s new all-in-one. 1. NEW DESIGN WITH A RAINBOW OF COLOURS The iMac is now available in blue, green, orange, pink, purple and silver, with matching a Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad. (Maybe you can even match with the coloured iPad Air if you bought one recently.) The new iMac has an elegant, minimal look compared to its predecessor. The bezels around the display are much smaller than…

Apple released a new iPad Pro in 2020 – a year and a half after the prior update – but it wasn’t much of a change. A new camera module that included LiDAR and an ultra-wide lens was fine, but the iPad isn’t really the thing people reach for when they want to take great photos. The processor was updated to the A12Z, which was just the same as the A12X but with a single GPU core, disabled on the A12X, re-enabled. It had more storage, but that’s just a function of the inevitable march of time. So, the iPad Pro was overdue for a more significant update, and with the new 5th-generation iPad Pro, we finally have it. Here are the highlights that make this year’s iPad Pro special.…

We weren’t expecting any iPhone news at the Spring Loaded event, but Apple threw us a bit of a curveball. Instead of a new model, we got a new colour: purple. Apple previously introduced a purple colour with the iPhone 11 and now it’s bringing a similar shade to the iPhone 12 and 12 mini (sorry Pro fans). Like the other iPhone 12 colours, the aluminium sides match the back of the device. The rest of the iPhone is the same as the current model.…

With the podcasts market getting more competitive by the day, Apple revealed new features for its dedicated app to keep up. The key new feature is Podcasts Subscriptions, a new service available in 170 countries in May that will offer exclusive content, early access to new series, and ad-free shows. Unlike its other subscription services, Apple isn’t charging a monthly fee for Podcast Subscriptions. Instead, content creators will set their own pricing and terms and fans will be able to subscribe to the podcasts they choose through the app. Changes are also coming to the Podcasts app. To help solve that problem of discovery, Apple is introducing a new Channels feature, which groups shows curated by creators. The app also has new pages that feature artwork for each show, an…

Last year, we wrote about how Apple’s restrictive App Store rules would cause millions of gamers to miss out on Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming service (née xCloud). Microsoft later updated the Xbox app to stream games over your local network from your own Xbox, but that’s not the same thing as a cloud gaming service where you don’t need to download or install games at all. After months of hand-wringing and probably back-room negotiations, Microsoft finally announced that it would build a web-based solution for devices in which it can’t provide an app, like iPhone and iPad. (Oddly enough, this is also how the company plans to bring Game Streaming to Windows 10 PCs.) The company promised that we’d see Xbox Game Streaming through the browser as early as spring…

Despite all the intriguing new devices that Apple showed off at its Spring Loaded event, it’s never too early to start musing on what might be next up the company’s sleeves. As ever, you can glean a lot about the direction that Apple is heading in by seeing what kind of things the company focuses on, especially when it’s rolling out new products with new capabilities. Features and technologies that we haven’t seen before can often point at places in which the company has invested significant time and energy – and, in many of those cases, it’s with an eye to more than just a single device. One of Apple’s great strengths, after all, is a ‘build once, deploy anywhere’ mentality that lets them bring the same feature to multiple…

Apple has finally released iOS 14.5 after a protracted beta testing period. This is one of the bigger point-release updates we’ve seen, adding the ability to unlock your iPhone with your Apple Watch, AirTags support, AirPlay support for Fitness+, and the long-awaited App Tracking Transparency feature. Apple released the first developer beta on 1 February, but the public beta did not follow immediately after, instead landing on 4 February after a second build for developers. The final release to the general public didn’t follow until 26 April. Here are all the major new features of the update. WHAT’S NEW IN iOS 14.5 1. Unlock iPhone with Apple Watch Face ID is great, but the constant mask-wearing of the pandemic has exposed an obvious flaw – it doesn’t work when half…

Apple has announced a minor expansion to its Fitness+ service with the addition of several new workouts and new instructor. The workouts target underrepresented groups in the current slate of Fitness+ workouts: those who are pregnant, older adults and beginners. In addition to these new workouts, a new Yoga and Mindful Cooldown instructor joins the cast: Jonelle Lewis. One of the existing instructors, Anja Garcia, is joining the HIIT team. For those taking advantage of the new Time to Walk feature on Apple Watch, you’ll find a new episode with Jane Fonda. All this stuff – the new workouts, instructor, and Time to Walk episode – are available to Fitness+ subscribers now.…

As we’ve seen Apple has launched a new M1 iMac, and if you’re like us, you’ll immediately wanted to buy one. So follow our guide and spend your money wisely. WHAT’S STANDARD ON ALL THREE MODELS Before we start getting into the differences, let’s take a look at the features that are the same on all three models of the 24in iMac. 45KRetinadisplay(support for 1 billion colours, 500 nits brightness, P3 colour gamut, True Tone) M1 processor 8GB RAM (16GB upgrade available) 1080p FaceTime HD camera Six speaker system Three-microphone array 3.5mm audio jack Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 That’s a lot of computer no matter which model you buy. But there are key differences between the £1,249, £1,449 and £1,649 iMac models. DESIGN AND COLOURS All of the…

If you want an iPad, you have three basic choices: the basic 10.2in iPad, the more expensive iPad Air, or the even more expensive iPad Pro. But if you have a few pounds to spend, the choice is even simpler. The standard 10.2in iPad is the budget option, with an aging design (big bezels, home button, Lightning port) and older processor. And the brand new 12.9in iPad Pro starts at a whopping £999 and is geared toward only the most demanding of users. So if you want the most tablet without breaking the bank on a £999 12.9in iPad Pro, you have just two options: the £579 iPad Air and the £729 11in iPad Pro. We used to recommend the iPad Air unequivocally for bringing the best of the iPad…

The Spring Loaded event brought a fast and furious pace of announcements, including a new iMac (page 12), AirTags (page 42) and Podcasts Subscription service (page 45), even a new iPhone colour (page 39). But Apple still found time to fix one of the biggest gripes we have in any of Apple products: Apple TV’s Siri remote. The Apple TV 4K itself isn’t a huge upgrade over the prior model. It brings an A12 Bionic processor (versus the A10X), high-frame-rate HDR and Dolby Vision video to enable smooth 60fps viewing. iPhone users can also use their handset’s light sensor to compare the colour balance to compare colour balance to ‘industry-standard specifications used by cinematographers worldwide’ and automatically adjust your TV’s video output without needing to fiddle with menus and settings.…

There was a lot of new stuff announced at Apple’s Spring Loaded event. By now you’ve already read about the new iMac, iPad Pro, AirTag and Siri Remote, but there are a bunch of smaller announcements you might have missed. 1. ENTRY-LEVEL M1 iMAC HAS A LOT OF SACRIFICES We were pretty happy when Apple announced that the new 24in 4.5K M1 iMac starts at £1,249, but what we didn’t realize is there’s a pretty large asterisk. Not only is it missing one of the GPU cores versus the £1,449 model, but it also has only two USB4/Thunderbolt ports, no Gigabit Ethernet, and the keyboard doesn’t have Touch ID. Apple says they’re add-ons (not the USB ports though), but at that point, you might as well just spring for…

Apple has made several attempts to make a go of the game market over the years – anyone remember when Apple had Game Evangelists? Pippin? Game Sprockets? And each and every time, just like boss battles in classic Nintendo games, those efforts have largely been futile. Gaming has so often seemed like an afterthought for Apple, paid lip service while the company focused on other areas that it clearly felt more passionately about, like music. With iOS, it seemed as though Apple had finally struck gold, providing a platform for hundreds of games that millions of people obsess over. But while the company’s mobile platform has proved to be profitable for gaming, there’s only so much of that success that can be laid directly at Apple’s own feet. After all,…

Every year since 2011, Apple has released a new major version of macOS, so we know one is coming this year. But since macOS Big Sur 11 was such a big change for Mac users, Apple may very well decide that the next version (most likely named macOS 12) will mostly focus on fixes and minor feature updates – not unlike Snow Leopard, Mountain Lion and High Sierra. That doesn’t affect our macOS 12 wish list, though, except maybe that it gives us a better understanding as to why our wishes may not be granted this year. So when macOS 12 is revealed, here are a few features we hope make the list. BETA AND RELEASE Apple hasn’t strayed very far from its release schedule since OS X Mavericks launched…

Last year’s iOS 14 release was one of the best iPhone updates yet. Apple didn’t necessarily deliver everything on our wish list from last spring, but it made big strides on a surprising number of them, with a massive home screen revamp, huge privacy advancements, and an overdue streamlining of Siri’s UI. And subsequent updates have kept up the momentum, with the upcoming release of iOS 14.5 slated to bring Apple Watch unlocking, app tracking transparency, and a slew of other tweaks and additions. Looking forward to iOS 15, we still want Apple to tackle some of our evergreen complaints (Siri), but the addition of big changes like the App Library and home screen Widgets have gone a long way toward making iOS a more modern and flexible mobile operating…