Table of contents for November 2024 in MacFormat

Now the latest iPhones, AirPods and Apple Watch models have been bestowed upon the world, we’re inevitably turning our attention to what might come next, including new Macs and iPads, powered by the latest Apple silicon. The new machines could well have been announced by time you read this, but you don’t need to spend a penny to get many of their additions and enhancements – thanks to the arrival of macOS Sequoia and iPadOS 18, both of which we’ll be looking at in-depth in this issue. Turn to p20 and you’ll discover many of the great ways in which Sequoia can make it easier and more fun to use your Mac; while on p62, we reveal how iPadOS 18 can do the same for your iPad – we’re particular…

Check out our reviews iPhone 16 Pro & AirPods 4 p78 Kicking things off with Apple’s Pro phones, these now come with larger displays – 6.3 inches and 6.9 inches across – thanks to slimmer bezels and larger physical dimensions. On the front is a new Ceramic Shield glass display that Apple says is 50% tougher than the previous version and twice as strong as any other smartphone screen. There are new colours, too: a darker black, a brighter white, a new bronze Desert Titanium shade, plus a slightly lighter Natural Titanium tone. You get three camera lenses: a 48MP Main camera, a higher-resolution 48MP Ultra Wide lens, and a 12MP 5x Telephoto lens. The first of these is what Apple calls a Fusion camera, which can take either 48MP…

Apple has overhauled the AirPods range with updates across the board. In doing so, it launched the AirPods 4 in two variations and brought updates to the AirPods Pro 2 and the AirPods Max over-ear headphones. Starting with AirPods 4, there’s now an entry-level option and a higher-end model. The former has a new ear tip design to improve fit and compatibility, alongside a new acoustic architecture with richer bass and clearer highs. You get Personalised Spatial Audio, a USB-C charging case and 30 hours of battery life, all for £129. Stepping up to the other AirPods 4 model, this includes everything in the base model, plus active noise cancellation, a wireless charging case, and a speaker for Find My sounds. It costs £179. Both the AirPods Pro 2 and…

Loewe We. BEAM > £849 > From loewe.tv/uk > Whether you’re binge watching Slow Horses on Apple TV+ or watching the latest blockbuster movies at home, this projector will soon have you beaming from ear to ear. For not only is the We. BEAM from German TV and speaker maker Loewe stylish, it’s also slim, portable and can splash HD images up to 120-inches across on your living room wall. While it can easily be connected to an Apple TV 4K, Blu-ray player and soundbar via HDMI CEC and ARC, you may not need to as it has support for Apple TV+, Disney+, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and YouTube built-in. It also has two invisible speakers delivering up to 10W of music power, plus Bluetooth so you can play your favourite…

Hundreds of millions of headphones and earphones are sold annually and, according to Statista, worldwide revenues have reached $18 billion dollars with growth for the next five years projected to be 2.39%. That’s music to the ears of manufacturers who know how much users love to get lost in personalised audio. But, just as the popularity of these devices is also increasing because people are using them in virtual meetings or to cancel out external noise, they’re also set to benefit people living with hearing loss like never before. During Apple’s ‘Glowtime’ event in September, Kate Bergeron, VP of hardware engineering, introduced what is being billed as the “world’s first all-in-one hearing health experience”. Firstly, in taking advantage of AirPods Pro 2’s H2 chip, Apple has developed a feature called…

Window Tiling Organising your desktop can be a pain, especially if you have several windows open at once. That’s where Sequoia’s new, easier Window Tiling feature comes in. Drag a window – whether a Finder window or an open app – and a space is suggested for it. Let go and it resizes and moves to that space. If you drag it out of its given space, it automatically reverts to the size it was before you moved it to a tile space. It’s a great way to tidy your screen. Some very welcome new features have been added to Sequoia’s video conferencing facilities. Presenter Preview shows exactly what you’re about to share before you broadcast it, whether it’s a single app or your entire screen. Naturally, it works with…

Sequoia brings us a great new Mac app for storing passwords and login data. Called simply ‘Passwords’, it’s built on the foundations of Apple’s Keychain which has benefitted from a quarter of a century’s development. A handy password and login manager, Passwords can store information such as Wi-Fi, app and website passwords, verification codes, shared passwords, ‘Sign in with Apple’ information and passkeys. It’s well organised, with an outward appearance that closely resembles the Reminders app. Categories of codes are indexed in the left-hand sidebar, along with options to view all your data and recently deleted codes, which are kept for 30 days before disappearing entirely. Shared groups are accessible in this sidebar too. If a password has been compromised by a data leak, you get an in-app notification urging…

With macOS Sequoia, the Notes app is even more capable. If you find yourself writing a very long, text-heavy note, you can divide it into sections with collapsible section headers. Just identify a line as a subheader in the formatting menu and, when you hover your pointer over it, you’ll see that a chevron appears. Click this to collapse and expand that section of text. Maths Notes allows you to work out mathematical equations in the Notes app. Just type it in, and as soon as you enter the ‘=’ symbol, the answer appears. It’s not just for the basic four functions either. The Maths Notes feature offers the same capabilities as a scientific calculator, which is great news for those who need more advanced mathematical capabilities. You can assign…

In a move that intensifies the rivalry with Google Maps, a public beta version of Apple Maps has been made available on the web. It lets you search for and discover places to visit while getting driving and walking directions. You can also find information about businesses, perform actions direct from the Maps Place Card – and check out what other people think by sharing it – all without using the Maps app on your computer. Go to beta.maps.apple.com on a Mac or iPad running Safari or Chrome, or a Windows PC running Chrome or Edge and you’ll be presented with the Maps interface. It’s not as comprehensive as the apps but it looks familiar, letting you quickly find what you need. We’d like to see a sign-in option so…

Mix multiple APFS versions safely Q My Mac normally starts up in Sonoma on an external SSD, but has Mojave installed on its internal drive. Why I do see warnings about the external drive being incompatible? Would reformatting and reinstalling them help? by KEVIN OLSON A These arise because those two versions of macOS use very different versions of the APFS file system. Although that supplied with Sonoma (APFS 2235 and 2236) understands the version in Mojave (APFS 945), the reverse isn’t true, as Mojave can’t understand the boot volume group and Signed System Volume in Sonoma. So every time you start your Mac up from its internal drive, if the external SSD is connected, you can expect it to warn you that it’s incompatible. Those are only warning messages,…

Some of our favourite new features in iPadOS 18 aren’t necessarily headline-grabbing ones – but they’re improvements that make every day better. For example, with iPadOS 18, Apple has finally brought the Calendar and Reminders apps together, turning them into a powerful productivity tool whether you’re herding kids or managing projects. Being able to see your day and to-dos in a single app rather than needing two is a big time-saver. Notes is hugely improved too. You can now add a voice memo to your notes and get your iPad to transcribe it and turn it into editable text, and the improved handwriting support can transcribe your handwritten text just as easily. There are new formatting features with new highlight colours and more importantly, collapsible lists. That makes it much…

> IN PRINT > ON iPAD & iPHONE ISSUE 409 AUTUMN 2024 > iOS 18 superguide: 50 tips and tricks > M4 Macs – what we know so far > Edit to perfection with iMovie > Surf safely! 6 of the best VPNs on test ISSUE 408 OCTOBER 2024 > Pick your perfect Mac and more with our Ultimate Apple Buyer’s Guide > Restore your vintage photographs > What’s next for Apple CarPlay ISSUE 407 SEPTEMBER 2024 > Get ready for macOS Sequoia! Plus iOS 18, iPadOS 18, watchOS 11, and more > Apple Intelligence: the pros and cons > Boost your Apple device security To order back issues of the print magazine, go to bit.ly/macformat_backissues or phone +44 (0)330 333 1113 and we’ll post them out to you. Download…

When Apple created the M-series processors that now power all its Macs and some iPads, it set a new standard for power efficiency. And the battery life of recent MacBooks is far better than older models. Yet as we travel or work on the move more and more, we still need to keep our batteries topped up. Laptops require much more juice than an iPhone or iPad, so you need a high-capacity and fast powerbank for those times you’re running low but you’re away from a power point. Smaller powerbanks will be drained dry by a laptop very quickly while only giving you a few per cent more battery. But a new generation of higher-powered models is emerging as the technology evolves. Still very portable, they provide connectivity for several…

> £59.99 > FROM lux.camera NEEDS iOS 16 or later Thanks to Smart HDR and Deep Fusion, your iPhone can snap consecutive exposures and create a single composite image that has colour and detail in both the shadows and highlights. This artificial intelligence-assisted photography means you can shoot and share a shot without much (if any) editing. Halide Mark II (version 2.15) is a camera app that’s designed to give iPhone photographers more manual control over camera settings, such as ISO speed (sensitivity to light) and shutter speed (to add motion blur or freeze action). This latest version boasts Process Zero – a response to the encroachment of AI into the art of photography. Take back control Photography used to be more challenging, and therefore more creatively rewarding. When faced…

One of the most interesting additions to the iPhone 16 range is the Camera Control, a new touch-sensitive button on the phone’s side for operating its cameras. You can press it firmly to take a photo or press it lightly to bring up a dial to change functions, such as zoom, exposure and more. You can then slide you finger to swipe through the controls and adjust. And it combines with Apple Intelligence: press the Camera Control and point your iPhone at a restaurant, for example, and Apple Intelligence will bring up information like ratings, menu and opening hours.…

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) readers may not be as popular as they once were, but this fourth version of Unread makes them feel as modern as can be. This sleek RSS reader blends beautiful design with top-notch features to give you a premium reading experience on your Mac, iPhone and iPad. Add a feed to the app and its articles are perfectly rendered for easy consumption, with perfect images, typography, colour options and more. You can add a feed directly from a web page, then sync everything to your other devices to read later. There are plenty of themes to choose from, alongside widgets and offline reading. While many features are free, there’s also a paid-for subscription with features like extra widget and sharing options, web page caching, custom Dock…

Your next free Mac operating system upgrade is here. To help you make the most of it, we walk you through its major new features, tweaks and enhancements and show you how to make the most of them. We also look at some of the features that haven’t quite arrived yet, and take a deep dive into the more minor changes that help make your Mac easier, more fun and more productive to use. macOS Sequoia was announced at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June 2024. Once again, the name is taken from a geographical feature found in Apple’s homeland, California. This time it’s the Sequoia National Park, named after its giant trees. The operating system is a similarly giant update, with Apple Intelligence features integrated throughout; improvements to Siri;…

Apple Intelligence is set to work its magic over Apple Mail, making it easier to organise your emails in the much-loved client. Like most Apple Intelligence features, it isn’t available in the first release of macOS Sequoia, but we look forward to getting it with a later update. The big new feature, known as On Device Categorisation, was demoed on the iPhone during the June’s Worldwide Developers Conference keynote, but it’s expected on the Mac, iPad and Vision Pro too. It organises your emails into categories. The Primary section consists of emails from people you know and time-sensitive messages. The Transactions section is for receipts, order confirmations and so on, while the Updates section stores newsletters, social media alerts and Promotions is for marketing and sales circulars. A new digest…

Your Mac can play all kinds of sounds from all kinds of sources, but how do you record and store them for personal use? For things plugged into your Mac, such as microphones and audio interfaces, you can use QuickTime Player or, if you want to adjust the sound, GarageBand. But to record from apps, online audio, or even from multiple sound sources at once, Audio Hijack ($77, about £70, rogueamoeba.com) is even better. We use it for all kinds of things, such as recording phone and FaceTime interviews; saving audio from videos we need to refer to later, and for recording from all kinds of apps. Audio Hijack can also do something very clever – it can transcribe audio files and turn them into text you can edit, copy and…

It’s true to say that learning is a lifelong process but, while nurturing new skills can be a heap of fun, you may find that you’re often pressed for time. Engage with Skillshare, however, and you’re unlikely to feel pressured. The app provides thousands of creative classes across art, photography and design and breaks them down into very manageable chunks. Importantly, you can also learn at your own pace. Available for iPhone, iPad and Apple TV, the lessons are taught by creative professionals and industry icons, and you’re sure to find something of interest whether you’re looking for success on YouTube, wanting to create your own unique sound, seeking to create animation, write fiction, and more. You can receive certificates, engage with teachers and other classmates and share end projects…

Thought iPadOS 17 was pretty great? Then you’re going to love what happens next. iPadOS 18 takes the power and personalisation of iPadOS 17 much further, enabling you to make your iPad truly yours – and if your iPad could handle iPadOS 17 then it’ll work with iPadOS 18 too. iPadOS 18 comes with a host of new features that will turbo-charge your texting, power up your photos, make your gaming experiences even more awesome and make your smart home more helpful. Again and again you’ll discover – in ways big and small – that iPadOS 18 takes everything you like about using your iPad and makes it even better. There are actually two iPadOSes. The initial iPadOS 18 release in September 2024 didn’t include Apple Intelligence, which is coming…

A longside the app upgrades, you’ll find two important security improvements: the new Passwords app and the ability to lock apps behind Touch ID and Face ID. That latter is useful for shared iPads in particular; you can use it to keep the kids from ordering in your shopping apps. One-stop Passwords app Before iPadOS 18 Apple’s password and login management was getting pretty messy. It also differed from mobile to Mac, so for example website passwords had their own spot in the iPadOS Settings app but lived in Safari’s settings on Mac. Now there’s the one app for everything – and it’s not just for passwords but for Wi-Fi logins, temporary verification codes and for passkeys, an alternative to passwords that use your face or finger as your login.…

Our ratings > Our reviews are totally independent; we’re not affiliated with Apple or anyone else, nor are we influenced by advertisers. > A truly exceptional product. Award given solely at the discretion of the editor. > The best example of its kind when pitted against comparable products. A brilliant thing Strongly recommended Worth considering Notable flaws A waste of your money BUYING ADVICE Our authoritative reviews help you make more informed choices Contact us Email your queries and your questions to letters@macformat.com…

> £149.99 > FROM aoc.com/uk FEATURES 15.6-inch screen, 1920x1080, IPS panel, 60Hz refresh rate, 1x USB-C 3.2, 1.8m cable The monitor is plug and play – just connect it and it’s ready to use Portable monitors are great for on the road productivity. Slip it into your bag with your notebook and you can enjoy two screens when on a work trip, just like you might do at home. The AOC 16T3EA has a 15.6in screen (corner to corner), with a 16:9 aspect ratio, and comes with a carry case. The unit as a whole is barely larger than the screen – it’s a mere 12.5mm thick and weighs only 830g, so it sits neatly in your laptop bag, along with your MacBook. The fold-out stand lets you use it…

Goal Zero’s model has a more industrial feel if you’re after something reassuringly robust, and the wireless pad is an excellent addition, though it is quite pricey. Jackery’s powerbank is also a more heavyweight proposition, with a bunch of outdoor-centric features that will be great for some people but overkill for others. Mophie’s model is the sleekest of the bunch, though it’s also a little expensive considering it has fewer features than the others. While it might not have the highest capacity on test, Anker’s powerbank makes up for it elsewhere. It’s the only model on test that can deliver 140W down a single port, enough for the latest large notebooks. It can be recharged quickly, offers excellent visual feedback, and has a sleek and portable design. While our tests…

> Free > FROM hiddenkingdoms.org > NEEDS iOS 14.7 or later, visionOS 1.0 or later The app’s overall effectiveness depends on the user; it works for some better than others Travel anxiety can ruin a good trip. Many of us gets stressed when we have to travel far, or in extreme cases, even make a short journey. For those people – especially vulnerable young adults or people with hidden disabilities – Hidden Kingdoms could be the answer. Developed by the artist collective at BOM (Birmingham Open Media), Hidden Kingdoms is a new experience to help people with anxiety on their travels. Built on game engine technology, the app makes the journey with you, supporting you as you go. As you start your journey, you can plan ahead and identify potential…

This year’s iPhone 16 launch event – dubbed ‘Glowtime’ by Apple – took place on 9 September, and it was absolutely jam-packed with new products: the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro ranges, a new Apple Watch Series 10 and an updated Apple Watch Ultra 2, fresh AirPods models, and new software features too. We’ll cover all of the new products in more detail over the next few pages, but suffice it to say that all in all, there was a lot to get excited about. Starting with the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus, there’s good news for fans of Apple’s more affordable phones. Instead of feeling second-best to the Pro models, this year the base-level iPhone 16 devices come loaded with a lot of features that were previously…

Apple chose to mark the Apple Watch’s 10th anniversary with a significant upgrade that saw the timepiece get an all-over makeover. The case is now both thinner and lighter, and there’s a new titanium option that replaces the previous stainless steel chassis. There’s still the usual aluminium finish, which now has a Jet Black option too. As well as that, there’s a larger display that now comes in 46mm and 42mm sizes, and this screen offers better viewing angles when seen from the side. Juicing up the Watch is quicker than ever thanks to improved fast charging – 15 minutes of charging will get you eight hours of usage, while you’ll get up to 80% battery life after 30 minutes on the charging puck. Apple has added temperature sensing for…

128GB Amount of storage available on the entry-level iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus. You can also opt to 256GB and 512GB of storage. 48MP Maximum resolution of the iPhone 16’s Fusion camera, which includes a 2x Telephoto option. 4x Maximum optical zoom range of the iPhone 16’s camera (2x zoom in, 2x zoom out). 22 hours Maximum battery life of the iPhone 16 during video playback, that’s two hours more than the iPhone 15. It also charges faster, reaching up to 50% charge in 30 minutes. 95% Amount of recycled lithium in the iPhone 16’s battery. It also uses 100% recycled copper foil in its MagSafe charger. 3,013,524 Total number of pixels on the iPhone 16’s Super Retina XDR display, with a 2556x1179-pixel resolution at 460ppi (pixels per inch).…

Although arguably the most important announcement to come out of this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple Intelligence won’t be released in its entirety with macOS Sequoia. The new artificial intelligence platform that powers a series of new features and is integrated system-wide into the iPhone, iPad, Vision Pro and Mac, is to be released with later OS updates over the next year. So let’s take a look at what we can expect… Apple Intelligence is very focused on the user and what they need from their Apple devices. Drawing on your personal context, it’s customised to be relevant to you and your wishes, and is privacy protected at every stage. Writing Tools can not only proofread your writing, but can also rewrite it to make it more formal, personal or…

Versions has been a long-standing, but often overlooked, feature within the Pages, Numbers, Preview and Keynote apps, enabling you to easily go back to previous versions of a document. That’s great for all kinds of reasons as it means you can either revert back to an earlier iteration of a doc (when you mess up) or use it to recover items (such as images and charts) that you accidentally lost during your creative frenzy. Triggering the feature brings up a Time Machine-like interface where you can browse a stack of all the previously saved versions of your current document. You can bring up a preview of a selected version and copy elements from it, whether you then opt to restore it or not. By harnessing the power of Versions, you…

Keep your SSD in Trim Q Should I buy an external SSD with SATA or NVMe for use with my M2 MacBook Pro? by KEITH MULLINS A An SSD’s internal and external interfaces determine its three key features of speed, Trim and SMART health indicator support. A SATA internal interface is slowest of all, unlikely to deliver more than about 500MB/sec read or write speeds, with no inherent support for Trim or SMART indicators. An NVMe interface should be able to reach the physical limit of 1,000MB/sec over a USB 3.2 Gen 2 connection, has Trim support, but not SMART unless it’s connected by Thunderbolt, or by USB 4 to an Apple silicon Mac. Trimming is an important feature that ensures storage blocks in the SSD that are no longer…

Apple Intelligence is Apple’s take on the artificial intelligence (AI) advances that are currently dominating the tech world. When it arrives it will deliver impressive new features: writing tools in Pages, summarisation tools in Mail, image creation in Messages, and a much smarter Siri that’s more knowledgeable and capable of handling more kinds of requests. Apple Intelligence isn’t the same thing as ChatGPT, although access to that is also coming to iPadOS 18. Apple is clearly wary of giving people unfettered access to the full generative AI features that have led to faked photos and all kinds of copyright infringement. So, for example, the picture generation in the forthcoming Image Playground app won’t let you generate anything dodgy. However, you will be able to use ChatGPT to create and illustrate…

While the shuttering of Apple’s self-driving car project earlier this year was disappointing, the lessons learnt during its development may well prove useful on a smaller scale – in robotic devices for the home. The first Apple robot is expected to be a tabletop assistant arriving in 2026 or 2027, to be followed later by a more sophisticated mobile droid. So could Apple reshape the smart home in the same way that it revolutionised smartphones, tablets, and wearables? The company’s move into robotics, combined with the power of its artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem, Apple Intelligence, could transform not only the types of devices we have at home but also how we interact with them. First up, the planned tabletop robot – codenamed J595 – is likely to serve as an…

> From £999 > FROM apple.com/uk > FEATURES 6.3-inch Super Retina XDR Display (2622x1206 pixels), A18 Pro chip, 128/256/512/1TB of storage, Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be), Bluetooth 5.3, 5G, USB-C port, up to 27 hours (video playback) There’s a learning curve to Camera Control, but we’re glad that it’s an option Between the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max, the latter seems like a bigger deal because of its enormous 6.9-inch screen. But the iPhone 16 Pro should not be overlooked. We’ve been using both of these new iPhone Pro models, and we think the iPhone 16 Pro is better value. For £999, you get a bigger display than last year (6.3 vs 6.1 inches), the more powerful 5x zoom that used to be a Pro Max exclusive and an…

> £49.95 > FROM stmgoods.com > FEATURES GaN charger; US, UK, Euro and Aus plug adaptors; 2x USB-C outlets, 1x USB-A outlet You’re going on holiday or on a business trip, and you’re taking stock of the tech you need while away. There’s your iPhone, notebook, Apple Watch, and maybe a few non-Apple devices such as an ebook reader or a handheld games console. But what chargers do you need? What cables? What international plug adaptors? And with all that in your luggage, will you have enough room for your clothes? STM’s 65W Three Port Universal Power Adapter addresses these questions. It has two USB-C charging ports, which can carry up to 65W of power between them, which is plenty enough for your notebook. There’s also a single USB-A socket,…

> £34.99 > FROM 505games.com > NEEDS macOS 13.3 or later; Mac with an Apple M1 chip or later It’s a marvel how much thought went into the game’s construction and mechanics Death Stranding Director’s Cut has finally arrived on the Mac, and Hideo Kojima’s opus does not disappoint. It’s truly a masterpiece of unsettling world building and patient, multi-layered gameplay. The game is set in a supernatural future where the Death Stranding has blurred the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead. Unless properly incinerated, dead bodies become BTs (Beached Things). These ghostly monsters consume the living, triggering a void-out blast that can flatten cities. Your character, Sam, can detect BTs with the help of a scanner called an Odradek. As a porter, your task is…

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