Table of contents for July 2019 in Macworld UK

Apple’s big WWDC keynote is over, and the tech giant had a lot to say in its over-two-hour presentation. If, however, you don’t have time to sit through the whole thing and want to catch up quickly, here’s a summary of the highlights. tvOS Apple kicked off the conference by talking about updates to tvOS, which runs on its Apple TV HD and Apple TV 4K products. It was recently given a refresh with the new TV app (see page 77), and now Apple is giving us a look at how the entire operating system will change in the autumn. New home screen: The Apple TV home screen will now play full-screen preview video that suggests content you may want to watch. Multi-user support: You can add multiple users to…

As we saw on page 18, Apple has announced the details of the next version of macOS including its name – Catalina – and when it will be released – the autumn. Project Catalyst We’ll start off with perhaps the most exciting piece of news for Mac users (and even more exciting for developers). Apple will be making it easier for developers to port iOS apps to the Mac. This is great for developers since they won’t need to spend time and money writing code for two different apps. Plus, it’s good for Mac users because they will see an increase in apps available on the Mac platform. By unifying the app development it is hoped that third-party Mac apps will be updated more frequently. Currently, most development funding goes…

As recently as last month we could still look at the iPad and smirk at Apple’s dogged insistence that its tablet works as a laptop replacement – one that will even leave us asking questions like, “What’s a computer?” The power was certainly there – especially in latter-day models – but not the freedom. I know this all too well. For over a year I used an iPad as my main work device, but I crawled back to the Mac after enduring months of unusable thumb drives at press trips and frustrations springing from actions as simple as selecting text. At WWDC, though, Apple dashed away most of my concerns with a masterstroke that it’s calling iPadOS. Currently, the Mac Pro is stealing much of iPadOS’s thunder, but months from…

During Apple’s two-and-a-half hour WWDC keynote, we were treated to lots of great moments. Craig Federighi’s quip about how bloated iTunes has become. The introduction of iPadOS. And of course, the new Mac Pro. But the theme of the show was a familiar one: privacy. For the past few years, Apple has hammered home its belief in our devices and data staying in our hands, but at WWDC it put its privacy where its mouth is. Rather than rehashing themes or trotting out the usual rhetoric, Apple gave privacy a central role in every new product it announced, drawing attention to both how our devices protect our data and what could be a target. Anyone can talk a good privacy game, but Apple is one of the few companies that…

Apple may end up making Macs with processors of its own design, but that’s not expected to happen soon. And if it does happen, it probably will take several years before the entire Mac line-up has transitioned to Apple-designed chips. In the meantime, it’s safest to assume that the Macs of the next couple years will primarily use Intel processors. So any time we can get a look at Intel’s road map, we’re getting a peak at the heart of the Mac. In May, during an investor presentation, Intel extended its public road map through 2020 and gave an update on future products and manufacturing processes. Here’s what that means for the Mac. Ice Lake this year Intel has been struggling to bring 10nm chips to market – the 14nm…

So the jokes about Apple rereleasing the cheese grater Mac turned out to be true. During its WWDC19 keynote, Apple unveiled the new modular Mac Pro that it’s been teasing for the better part of two years. It looks an awful lot like the Power Mac G5 design (that was eventually carried over to the Intel-based Mac Pro) that was retired back in 2013. Quite frankly, Apple could have saved us all a lot of agitation if it had just released this design back in 2006. It’s a natural evolution of the Power Mac G5, and I can’t help but think it’s one of the thousand nos from the original Mac Pro’s design process. Call it a reboot. Of course, the inside of the new Mac Pro makes the Power…

Everybody is talking about the Mac Pro and the Pro Display XDR (see page 17), but at those sky-high prices, Apple is going to be lucky to sell even a million of them. They’re very cool products for serious creative professionals, but they don’t mean anything at all for the vast majority of the billion-plus Apple users out there. Some of the other things Apple announced will have much bigger consequences for you. 1. Privacy crackdown Take the new privacy stuff in iOS 13 (see page 11). It’s not sexy, but it may drastically change the way popular apps operate. Right now, many apps let you sign in using Google or Facebook. This is convenient, but it also gives the app – and Google or Facebook – all sorts…

You might have read a headline or 30 recently proclaiming the death of iTunes. It certainly seemed like that was the case; during the WWDC19 keynote, Apple VP Craig Federighi skewered the long-time media app for doing too much and announced it was breaking up into separate TV and Music apps. Short of holding an iOS 9-style funeral, Apple eliminated the iTunes app from the Mac and shuffled its functionality to new apps and menus. How does it all work? And is iTunes really dead? Get the answers to those and any other question you may have over the following pages. Is iTunes really gone? Yes, the app named iTunes that we’ve been using on our Mac for nearly two decades is no more. When you upgrade to macOS 10.15…

When the Apple Watch arrived back in 2015, it was very much an iPhone accessory. That’s steadily been changing with native apps and the addition of cellular support, but with watchOS 6, the Apple Watch barely needs an iPhone at all. Here are six ways Apple has made Apple Watch independent in watchOS 6. 1. You can install apps on your wrist One of the biggest Apple Watch annoyances has always been its reliance on the iPhone to download and install apps. Not only do we have to use the iPhone app to find new apps but we also need to have a companion app installed on our phone in order to use it on our wrist. But that’s changing. With the introduction of a standalone App Store, Apple…

Apple announced recently that the MacBook Pro is getting a speed boost. The company revealed that the 13in MacBook Pro with Touch Bar is now available with eight-generation Intel processors, while the 15in MacBook Pro now sports ninth-generation CPUs, including the first 8-core Mac laptop. The tech giant also said that the 2019 MacBook Pro features changes to the butterfly keyboard mechanism that should help prevent the problems that users have experienced in previous MacBook models. The new models are also included in Apple’s Keyboard Service Programme, which means that the company will repair the keyboard for free up to four years after purchase. Apple is offering the new MacBook Pro models at the same price points as those released in July 2018. 15in MacBook Pro The £2,699 15in MacBook…

For the first time since 2015, Apple has announced a new iPod touch, though you wouldn’t know it by looking at it. It has the same 4in screen, colour selection, and bezel-heavy outdated design. But now it’s fast enough to run AR apps and Group FaceTime. Apple has updated the A8 processor in the iPod touch with an iPhone 7-era A10 Fusion chip, the same silicone that powers the low-end iPad. That’s still nowhere near as fast as the A12 Bionic chip in the iPhone XS, but it’s definitely an improvement. Like the old model, the new iPod touch starts at £199 for 32GB, but there’s an extra 256GB option now for £399, in addition to the £299 128GB model. Unfortunately, the new iPod touch ignores many of Apple’s newer…

Two years after Apple officially confirmed that it was working on a new Mac Pro, the machine finally made an appearance during WWDC’s keynote. And it didn’t disappoint. You’ll find no ‘trash cans’ here. Instead, the new design riffs on the ‘cheese grater’ Mac Pros that were so popular in the past decade. That’s a strong signal to video editors and other content creators who need a lot of graphics and CPU power. The Mac Pro feels ‘pro’ again, and to complement that power, Apple also announced a new 32in Pro Display XDR that’s a massive upgrade over the old Thunderbolt Display. “It’s incredible,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said, and we’re inclined to agree. Just watch out for an incredible price tag: for an entry-level price of $5,999 [£tbc], you…

We heard a lot about iOS 13 on the main WWDC stage, but with so many other announcements to get through, there was only so many things that Craig Federighi could show us directly. However, Apple briefly showed a slide with a few dozen new iOS 13 features that are coming in the autumn – and we poured through the list so you wouldn’t have to. Apps Maps: Improved report a problem Maps: Place Card enhancements Safari: Siri suggestions Safari: Updated start page Safari: Enhanced anti-fingerprinting protections Notes: View-only collaboration Notes: Folder management Notes: More powerful search Notes: New checklist options Mail: Block sender Mail: Mute thread Reminders: Customize appearance of lists Contacts: New relationship labels Contacts: Add attachments to events Photos: Search enhancements Photos: Location controls for sharing Messages:…

Apple didn’t introduce any new Apple TV hardware at this year’s WWDC, but it did announce several new features for tvOS 13 that make Apple’s set-top box a far more attractive device. In tvOS 13, it’s easier for multiple family members to personalize the device, and Apple also introduced features that allow Apple TV to act more like a regular game console. Here are the updates we’re anticipating most. 1. A redesigned home screen The current Apple TV home screen is dull when compared to what you find in the Netflix streaming app. With tvOS 13, though, the Apple TV home screen will take a cue from those apps and start playing trailers when you slide over TV and movie apps and even specific episodes. Much as in the…

According to Apple, the vast majority of users of recent MacBooks are happy with the butterfly switch keyboard, which was introduced in 2015. It’s not, however, difficult to find users who are not. Along with the announcement of new MacBook Pros (see page 92), Apple announced that the company will now fix any problems with the MacBook keyboard at no cost to the owner. This offer is only available for the following laptops: • 12in Retina MacBook (2015 to 2017) • MacBook Air (2018) • 13in MacBook Pro (2016 to 2019) • 15in MacBook Pro MacBook Pro (2016 to 2019) Also, to reduce the inconvenience to the user, Apple said that it has shortened the time it takes to implement repairs to the keyboard. Apple has a support document with…

Apple has released the redesigned version of the Apple TV app, which it first announced back during its 25 March event. It’s a wide roll-out, as Apple lets you access more than 150 different streaming apps, and it’s extending it to 100 countries on iOS along with releases for Apple TVs and Samsung’s latest smart TVs. Notably, the update includes Apple’s subscription-based Channels feature, which is the first big step toward making the Apple TV app more appealing in preparation for the launch of Apple TV+ sometime this autumn. On the iPhone, it’s rolled into the iOS 12.3 update, which comes with the usual ‘performance improvements’, but also fittingly lets you beam video or music content from your iPhone or iPad to smart TVs that support AirPlay 2. On the…