iPad & iPhone User – June 2018

ISSUE 133

COMPLETE GUIDE TO

iOS 12

ALL THE NEWS FROM

WWDC 2018

BEST VPN FOR iOS

CONTENTS

4 WWDC 2018

4 11 22 30 35 39 43 46

WWDC 2018: Everything Apple announced Complete guide to iOS 12 iOS 12’s hidden features worth getting excited about Phone addiction tackled with new Screen Time app ARKit 2 extends Apple’s lead in mobile AR Why watchOS 5 gives your Apple Watch a boost The devices that support iOS 12 and watchOS 5 What Apple failed to announce at WWDC

FEATURES

51 iOS 11.4’s new features 55 Why A12 chip will be best feature in this year’s iPhone

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CONTENTS

11

REVIEW

Wanle Gamers Console for iPhone

61

BUYING GUIDE

Best VPN for iOS

61

66

ROUND-UP

Latest iOS games

72

HOW TO

66

Create a Memoji Make group FaceTime calls in iOS 12 Make Siri Shortcuts Get a refund from the App Store

83 87 90 95

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WWDC 2018: Everything Apple announced If you missed the WWDC keynote or you don’t have time to watch it, Jason Cross reveals all of Apple’s announcements

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his year’s WWDC was all about software.

That meant no new Mac announcements, no low-cost HomePod, no iPhone SE... nothing but iOS, tvOS, watchOS, and macOS. There was still plenty to get excited about, though. Apple’s upcoming operating systems are going to deliver a host of improvements and new features when they

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are released this autumn. Here’s everything Apple announced at its keynote presentation.

iOS 12 This is the big one. Apple’s most popular devices run iOS, and they are getting a big, fat pile of improvements. Here’s a quick list of everything announced, but for a deeper dive, check out our iOS 12 feature on page 11.

Performance: Apple is paying special attention to performance, particularly on older devices. The company says that, on an iPhone 6s Plus, apps launch up to 40 percent faster, and twice as fast when there’s lots of heavy multitasking going on.

The camera launches 70 percent faster, the keyboard pops up 50 percent quicker, and the share menu is twice as fast, all on an iPhone 6S Plus.

FaceTime: Apple is adding group FaceTime with up to 32 people, the ability to add people in the middle of a FaceTime call, the ability to use Animoji and Memoji in FaceTime calls, stickers in FaceTime calls, and even video filters.

Animoji: There are four new Animoji: T-Rex, Ghost, Koala, and Tiger. Plus, clips have been lengthened to 30 seconds. Animoji (and Memoji) recognize when you stick out your tongue or wink.

Memoji: iOS 12 introduces a new form of Animoji that is made to look like your face (or someone else’s, if you

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You can customize Memoji to look like a face with different haircuts, glasses, skin and eye options and more

want). Think of it as an animated 3D version of Bitmoji.

You can customize how your face looks, adjust your hair, and accessorize.

Screen Time: Track how much time you or your children spends glued to their iPhone or iPad. You can set time limits by app type and day, and they even sync between iPhone and iPad. Plus, create exceptions for apps you always want available, such as education apps. For details see page 30.

Notifications: Finally, better iOS notifications. These will be grouped together by app, and you can choose to

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have notifications for particular apps delivered silently.

You can also mark certain alerts as critical so you get them even while in Do Not Disturb mode.

Do Not Disturb: Choose a bedtime, and your display will dim and silence notifications until you unlock your phone the next day. You can also quickly set DND mode to end in an hour, at the end of the meeting you are in, or when you leave your current location. Perfect for school or the cinema.

ARKit 2: With ARKit 2 (see page 35), Apple extends its leadership in mobile augmented reality. There’s improved face tracking, better rendering, a new cross‑platform AR file format called USDZ, the ability to save persistent AR states, and the ability for multiple people to share in a single AR experience together.

Apple is even including its own app named Measure that lets you quickly measure real‑world objects.

Photos: Photos gets a bit of a facelift with a new For You tab, event search, sharing suggestions, and smarter search suggestions. It now supports RAW images, including the ability to edit them on an iPad Pro. Camera: Portrait mode is improved, the QR code reader is better, and there’s an API for developers to separate layers in a photo, so they can do their own portrait modes and other special effects.

Siri: It looks like Siri is getting a host of improvements in iOS 12. The big one is Siri Shortcuts, which lets you

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perform a set of actions all with a single command. This represents the first real integration of Workflow into iOS, too. Siri makes intelligent suggestions on the lock screen based on your past history. Plus, it can give you more facts about more things (including nutrition facts), and help you search for a password, too.

Privacy and Security: Safari can do more to prevent websites from tracking you. iOS can help you automatically generate strong passwords for websites and apps, and store them in Keychain. The passwords list will flag reused passwords, too. If you get one‑ time use passcodes via SMS, they’ll be suggested for autofill so you don’t have to pop back and forth or memorize them. Third‑party password apps get an API to integrate into the keyboard, too.

Overhauled apps: iBooks (now just Books), Stocks, News, and Voice Memos have all been given a redesign and new features.

CarPlay navigation apps: At long last, thirdparty navigation apps will work in CarPlay. That means you can use Google Maps or Waze in your CarPlay‑equipped car.

watchOS 5 We don’t know what features the next Apple Watch will bring, but the next version of watchOS has plenty of new features. Unfortunately, Apple is cutting off support for the original Apple Watch), so if you want its new features, you’ll need a Series 1, Series 2, or Series 3.

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With watchOS 5, you don’t have to be so precise about when you start and stop workouts. The watch will remind you

Activity Competitions: Challenge someone to a seven-day contest where you earn points based on the percentage of your rings you close.

Workout features: Apple Watch will automatically sense you are working out, prompt you to start a workout, and give you credit for the workout you’ve already done. Then, it will remind you to end a workout. Apple has added new workout types such as Yoga. Great new features for runners include keeping track of pace, rolling miles, and cadence.

Podcasts: Yep, the podcasts app is coming to Apple Watch.

Walkie-Talkie: Probably the most fun new watchOS 5 feature, you can have a one-on-one push-to-talk conversation through your Apple Watch.

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Siri watch face: The Siri watch face uses machine learning to get better at surfacing the right content for you at the right time.

No more “Hey Siri”: If you enable ‘raise to speak’, you can just lift your watch to your mouth and tell Siri what to do without saying “Hey Siri” first.

Better notifications: You get grouped notifications like you do on iPhone, better Do Not Disturb options, and more functions that can be done right from the notification itself.

Student ID cards: Some universities will integrate their student ID cards with Apple Wallet and Watch, so you can just tap your wrist to do everything you need your ID card for – building access, buying stuff, whatever.

This feature is rolling out with six universities, with more coming over time.

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Complete guide to iOS 12 Apple promises faster performance for older phones, plus improvements in Siri, FaceTime and more, writes Susie Ochs

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pple both sets trends and chases them, and iOS 12, unveiled at the WWDC keynote, is no exception. With this release, the firm is focusing on performance improvements and enhancements, even for older devices. The company is also making important changes to augmented reality that will enable new experiences; improving Siri, FaceTime, and the Photos app to catch up to the competition; and adding new features such as personalized Memoji and weekly reports about how you’re using

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your device. iOS 12 will be a free update for all users this autumn, and it’s supported by every device that runs iOS 11, all the way back to the iPhone 5s released in 2013. Here’s a rundown of the operating system’s biggest improvements.

Augmented reality and the Measure app Apple has created a brand‑new file format with Pixar called USDZ that will enable easier sharing of the 3D graphics and animations used in augmented reality apps. Developers and users can share these USDZ files like any other files: store them in the Files app, and send them in Messages and Mail. When you receive a USDZ file, you can open it and place the 3D object in the real world. “It’s sort of like AR Quick Look,” explained Craig Federighi.

For example, if a publisher places a USDZ image into an article in the News app, readers can tap it to open it in a fully interactive AR view, right inside News. Another example shown was Fender using a USDZ object on its website, where potential buyers can tap it to view the product from all angles, shown in an augmented reality view in the room they’re in, in actual size.

Users can also try the all‑new Measure app to measure the dimensions of physical objects using AR. You just trace the sides of an object to find out how long they are. It can also detect rectangles automatically and tell you the dimensions.

For developers, ARKit 2.0 will enable improved face tracking, more realistic rendering, as well as shared experiences, which means AR games can now support multiplayer modes. Both players can see the

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same objects on their own devices, and those objects can have persistence, so they reappear in the same place the next time you use the same app.

Improvements to the Photos app Apple’s Photos app gets a refresh in iOS 12, matching the design language of Apple Music and the App Store.

Search in Photos will be improved, letting you use multiple search terms and search your photo library quicker using Siri.

The Photos app has a new For You tab, which is a feed that shows featured photos, like images you took on the same day in previous years. It suggests loops and bounce effects for Live Photos that could use them, or portrait effects to add to Portrait Mode photos. It also highlights shared iCloud album activity.

All these features are in the Google Photos app already, so they are welcome additions to iOS 12, but nothing that has us shocked.

Photos already recognizes other people in your images, and in iOS 12, it will suggest you share those photos with those people. Images you share arrive in full resolution.

When your friend gets them, her phone will suggest sharing photos

The Photos app looks a lot more like Apple Music, with proactive suggestions in the For You tab

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taken at the same event right back to you, which will help you gather more photos from the same party without having to set up a shared album, or email or text images back and forth. The sharing is private with end-to-end encryption, and all the machine learning to determine who’s in your photos is done on your device, not in the cloud.

Siri improvements When Apple bought Workflow in 2017, we were hoping iOS would eventually get the kind of robust automations it enabled. And now it’s time: iOS 12 features big improvements for Siri that can speed up tasks in a single app, as well as let you build routines that use multiple apps, launched with a single Siri command. Siri’s third‑party app support has been limited so far, so this should be huge for iOS users.

With Siri Shortcuts, any app can expose quick actions to Siri. Federighi gave the example of the Tile app, which you have to launch when you want to locate your Tile tracker. Now the Tile app can suggest a Siri Shortcut to locate your tracker, and you can set a custom Siri command, such as “I lost my keys”. Now when you tell Siri that phrase, a card launches with that screen in Tile, and you can see where the tracker is, and interact with the card, without even having to open the full app unless you want to. Other examples offered were an “order my groceries” command to place an order in an app like Instacart, or “help me relax” to launch your favourite meditation app.

Siri Suggestions are also improved in iOS 12 to anticipate your next actions based on your history.

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WWDC 2018 The Shortcuts app lets you create your own multi-app workflows that you can run with a custom Siri command

The suggestions can appear on your lock screen and notifications screen, and you can tap one to take care of that action without having to launch an app. It can suggest you call relatives on their birthdays. If you’re late to a meeting, it can send a text to the organizer to let them know, or call into the meeting if a call‑in number was provided in the invite. If you order a coffee with the same app every morning, a Siri Suggestion will pop up that you can tap to jump right there.

The new Shortcuts app also lets you combine actions from multiple apps into one routine, which you then trigger with a Siri command. For example, if you say, “I’m going surfing”, the routine can check the surf report with the Surfline app, read you the current weather, grab an ETA for your drive to the beach, and then make a note in Reminders to tell you to put on sun cream when you get there.

The Shortcuts app has a gallery full of pre-made shortcuts, as well as a library you can search. Routines can combine services such as texting, mapping, HomeKit, music, you name it. You can search for items to add, or the app can suggest them to you based on machine learning. In the on-stage demonstration of

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setting up a ‘heading home’ routine for an evening commute, the app suggested launching the KQED app to play some NPR, because that’s what the user usually did at that time of day.

Improvements to News, Stocks, Voice Memos, and Apple Books A few Apple apps will be redesigned in iOS 12, some launching on the iPad for the first time.

In the News app, the Browse tab will make it easier to discover new channels and topics to follow.

The For You tab makes it easier to jump to your favourite sources, especially on the iPad, which gets a handy new sidebar.

The Stocks app has a new design, with spark lines next to each of your picks, showing their performance throughout the day. Stocks also has a news module along the bottom, with curated business stories chosen by the Apple News team. When you expand the news module, your stocks run horizontally along the top of the screen like a ticker. You can also tap any stock to see an interactive chart, new afterhours pricing, and relevant headlines curated by the editors. Full articles open without leaving the Stocks app. iOS 12 also brings Stocks to the iPad for the first time.

The Stocks app has been redesigned

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Voice Memos is also coming to the iPad, with iCloud support to sync your voice recordings between devices. iBooks has been rechristened Apple Books, with a new design to match the App Store and Apple Music.

A Reading Now section shows a preview of your book right at the page you left off, tempting you to jump right back in. The store tabs for e‑books and audiobooks are redesigned, too.

CarPlay improvements iOS 12 brings new features to CarPlay, Apple’s platform for interacting with your iPhone via your car stereo.

For the first time, CarPlay will support third‑party navigation apps such as Waze and Google Maps. That means you can get turn-by-turn directions from your preferred mapping app, but there was no specific mention of letting users set a third-party mapping app as the default when you ask for directions.

Digital Health features Apple’s improving the Do Not Disturb feature in iOS 12. If you go to check the time at night, for example, DND Bedtime can just show you the time on a dark lock screen, saving the notifications for later. (Presumably you can still see them if you unlock your phone in a fit of insomnia.) In the morning, it even eases you in, with a lock screen that says good morning and shows the time and temperature, until you tap it again to indicate you’re ready for the full deluge of notifications.

Those notifications will be more organized, though. iOS 12 supports grouping of notifications by type, topic,

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and thread. You can tap a group to expand it, or even swipe a group to dismiss the whole thing at once.

It’s much easier to tweak how an app notifies you in iOS 12, too. Until now, you’ve had to dig into Notifications and then find that app in a huge list of all your apps. It was frankly just easier to delete an app that sent annoying notifications than it was to go in and turn them off or edit their behaviour.

In iOS 12, you can force‑press a notification to tweak how that app’s notifications work. Siri will even proactively suggest you turn off notifications for apps you’re no longer using. iOS 12’s new Screen Time app (see page 30) will send users weekly reports about how they are using their devices, including how many times you looked at your phone throughout the day, which app pulled you in each time, and even which apps send you the most notifications. You’ll be able to see how often you use your apps, and at which times of day. If any of this data concerns you, you can set Time Limits for yourself.

Those limits apply across iPhones and iPads logged in with your iCloud account. Children will get their own activity report, and a separate one is sent to their parents’ device. This uses Family Sharing, so parents can manage the reports, Time Limits, and new parental content controls remotely from their own devices.

These are welcome changes, but they could be difficult to implement if, say, your whole family shares an iPad, because iOS 12 still doesn’t support individual user accounts, unlike macOS. If I have two children who each love the same app on the same iPad, there’s no way to give them each a time limit. Apple may not be in

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a hurry to fix this, either, because the ‘natural’ solution is to buy each child their own device.

New Animoji, Memoji, and filters in Messages The Messages app gets new Animoji characters, including a koala, a tiger, a ghost, and a T-Rex. Memoji are like personalized Animoji. They look more three‑ dimensional than the custom Bitmoji you make in Snapchat, but much better-looking than the Mii characters you make on a Nintendo console.

Users can customize their Memoji with hundreds of options for skin colour, hairstyle, facial features, and accessories like hats and glasses. You can save multiple Memoji and use them in Messages to send reactions to your friends. The demo onstage looked pretty good, even though the sunglasses floated on the Memoji face without stems going behind the ears. Hey, sunglasses of the future, right?

The Messages app gets new filters for sending photo and video responses, and you can add stickers, too.

Group FaceTime chats In iOS 12, you can have a group FaceTime chat with up to 32 total participants simultaneously, over audio or video. FaceTime is even integrated into Messages, so if a You can use Memoji in Messages

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group chat is getting unwieldy, you can launch a group FaceTime chat right from Messages, or jump into a group call already in progress. A side-scrolling roster along the bottom shows everyone in the chat if they don’t all fit on the screen at once. Floating tiles for each chat participant get larger when that person speaks.

You can also double-tap a tile to see that person front and centre, in case you thought you saw them roll their eyes at you or something. From the FaceTime camera, you can get to your Animoji, sticker packs, and effects.

Ever wanted to participate in a meeting of koalas?

Now you can. Apple Watch users can answer FaceTime audio calls directly from their wrists, too.

Release date Apple hasn’t yet announced a release date for iOS 12, but it typically launches in September – shortly after the new batch of iPhones is announced, but before the new iPhones ship.

Supported devices If your device runs iOS 11, it will run iOS 12. Apple even promises better speed and performance on older devices. In other words, Apple says that apps should launch faster on an iPhone 6 with iOS 12 than on an iPhone 6 with iOS 11.

You can FaceTime chat with up to 32 people

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How to get iOS 12 Apple has released beta versions to developers, which they can get from the Apple Developer site. Public betas for regular users follow the developer betas, typically launching in July. If you want to join the beta test, head to beta.apple.com. You can enrol here, and download a special profile that will allow your device to download the beta releases. You’ll get a notification when one is ready, or you can check manually by going to Settings > General > Software Update.

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iOS 12’s hidden features worth getting excited about Not every iOS 12 feature is a headline-grabber, but sometimes it’s the little things that matter most. Jason Cross reports

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t looks like iOS 12 may shape up to be one of Apple’s best releases in years. It’s not a complete overhaul of the iOS ecosystem, but rather a welcome refinement on iOS 11. It takes the big steps from the iPhone X and iOS 11 – like Animoji and ARKit – and extends them in ways that make them truly useful.

We’ve already seen the big iOS 12 features, but there’s a lot more to unpack. There are a host of small

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changes, tweaks, and features that should bring smiles to your faces, reminding all of us that little bits of polish and refinement are what make iOS a delight to use.

Here’s a list of hidden delights awaiting you when it’s released in the autumn.

Automatic Updates After upgrading to iOS 12, you’ll find a new menu item labelled Automatic Updates, which defaults to being enabled. Will iOS 12 be the first to allow your iPhone to just update itself silently in the background (probably when plugged in and connected to Wi‑ Fi)? Does this mean no more nagging users to install minor point releases and security patches? We look forward to seeing what Automatic Updates delivers.

More Siri accents In iOS 11, you can change Siri’s voice to be male or female, and to have one of three different accents: American, Australian, or British. Just head to Settings > Siri & Search > Siri Voice.

In iOS 12, that same menu has five accents listed; the additional accents are Irish and South African.

Imagine getting your traffic report in an Irish brogue.

Closing apps on iPhone X made easy One of the odd quirks of the iPhone X’s gesture interface is the way you close apps. In iOS 11, you have to swipe up from the bottom of the screen to show all your app cards in the multitasking menu. Then, if you swipe up on one, it doesn’t close the app as the similar gesture does on any other iPhone or iPad.

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Rather, you have to press and hold on the stack for a second until the little close icons appear in the upper left. Then you can tap on those or swipe up on app cards to close the app. If you just swipe up on a card, it closes the multitasking menu without closing the app.

That behaviour is gone in iOS 12. Once you bring up the multitasking menu, swiping up on a card immediately closes the app, as you would expect it to. This is in line with the way other iPhones and iPads operate.

iPad gestures match iPhone X In iOS 11, the iPad got a series of gestures that are somewhat unique. Swipe up from the bottom edge, just a little, to show the dock. Swipe up a lot and you see the multitasking menu with all your running apps, along with the Control Centre on the right.

With iOS 12, swiping up anywhere on the dock will bring you back to the home screen. That’s not exactly like the iPhone X’s ‘home area’ swipe, but it’s very close (and the expanded swipe area makes sense on the larger iPad devices). To open the Control Centre, you swipe down from the upper-right edge, just as you do on the iPhone X. This brings some unity to the gestures on iOS devices, but it also gives us a hint of the future of the iPad. If Apple was going to release a new iPad Pro that has Face ID and no more Touch ID (and thus no home button), it would need a ‘return to home screen’ gesture just like this one.

Swipe up to retry Face ID One frustration of the iPhone X’s new Face ID unlocking feature it that if your iPhone tries to read your face

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WWDC 2018 Retrying a Face ID unlock is easier in iOS 12

before you’re ready and it fails – maybe because you’re covering your mouth – you’re stuck looking at a passcode screen. You have to either put your iPhone X to sleep and wake it up again to retry Face ID, or turn it far away from your face and back again.

It’s a small annoyance, but one that is nonetheless smoothed out considerably with a simple design change in iOS 12. If Face ID tries and fails, you’ll still get the passcode screen, but with a prompt to simply swipe up to try Face ID again. After three failed Face ID attempts, you have to enter your passcode, though.

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Alternate appearance for Face ID Speaking of Face ID, there’s a new Appearances section in the Face ID settings page, with a single option: Set Up an Alternate Appearance.

It seems intended to make Face ID more reliable for those who tend to dramatically change their look more radically than the learning algorithm in Face ID can cope with. On face value alone, it wouldn’t seem to offer the flexibility of Touch ID’s ability to register 10 different fingerprints, but it’s certainly enough to allow you and, say, your partner to have access to the same iPhone X.

Locking out USB accessories Law enforcement groups (and who knows what other groups) have been using devices such as GrayKey (see iPad & iPhone User 132) to gain access to locked iPhones without the passcode. There’s no telling what other similar devices can break into your locked, encrypted iPhone.

The latest salvo from Apple in the never-ending battle for your privacy is a new feature in iOS 12 that disables access from all USB devices if your device has been locked for more than an hour.

It’s an important security advancement: One hour is plenty of time for regular users to do USB‑related functions such as back up or restore, but almost certainly not enough time for USB‑based iPhone cracking devices to break into your phone.

Call and FaceTime shortcuts in Messages Have you ever been messaging someone and decide you want to call or FaceTime them? It’s a pain. You have

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to close the app, open Phone or FaceTime, find the person again, or you can pull up a whole Contacts card with photos and everything, and call or FaceTime from there. Messages in iOS 12 streamlines this. The icon for the person you’re messaging appears at the top of the screen. Tap on it to expand a little menu of handy shortcuts: audio call, FaceTime, or info.

Lyrics search in Apple Music Apple Music remains largely unchanged in iOS 12, but now you get the ability to search for songs by lyrics. There are millions of tracks in Apple Music that have lyrics data, and if you don’t know the name of a song but know how it goes, iOS 12 makes it a whole lot easier to find.

If you don’t know the name of that song but know how it goes, you can probably find it in Apple Music

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Hey, it’s not cross-fade or smart playlists or the interface redesign we want. But there are millions of tracks in Apple Music that have lyrics data, and if you don’t know the name of a song but know how it goes, iOS 12 makes it a whole lot easier to find.

Favicons on Safari tabs Weirdly, Safari on macOS and iOS does not show Favicons (those little site‑specific icons) in tabs. It’s a frustrating bit of interface weirdness that Apple users have had to deal with for ages, because they are supported by every other modern browser.

That’s finally getting fixed in macOS Mojave and iOS 12. If you enable a Show Icons in Tabs toggle in Settings, you’re browsing like it’s the year 2000.

Notification grouping settings per app One of the best features of iOS 12 is that apps are grouped by app (or sometimes by type, like a message thread). This is not an on‑or‑off, all‑or‑nothing affair, We thought we would never live to see Favicons In Safari

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Notification grouping isn’t just on or off. You can adjust it per app

though. You can toggle notification grouping per app by looking in each app’s notification settings. This means you’ll be able to have most of your notifications groups, but ungroup some apps (like your video doorbell or security cameras, for example) if you want to see all their notifications in a row.

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Phone addiction tackled with new Screen Time app Late is better than never, writes Michael Simon

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fter vowing to address the growing concern of smartphone addiction earlier this year, Apple is now making good on its word. During the WWDC keynote, Craig Federighi took some time to spotlight some of the new features in iOS 12 designed to help users get a grip on their smartphone habits.

Rather than roll out small perfunctory capabilities,

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Apple is jumping right into the game with a slew of major changes that put it on par with Google’s impressive efforts in Google’s Android P. There are three components of Apple’s new digital health initiative: Do Not Disturb, Notifications, and a new app called Screen Time. Working together, they represent a whole new way to get a handle on how you use your iPhone and keep it from bugging you too much.

Do Not Disturb Apple’s Do Not Disturb feature in iOS already lets you keep notifications and alerts from buzzing and pinging you when you’re at a meeting or the cinema, but Apple is enhancing its abilities in iOS 12 in several ways. It starts with the end of your day: bedtime. Apple is unveiling a new mode for Do Not Disturb specifically designed for your nightstand, which keeps the screen black until morning. Turn it on and nothing will get through until you wake up.

Apple is also offering greater control over Do Not Disturb, with controls built right into Control Centre.

Tap the icon and you’ll get new options to set a specific end time for Do Not Disturb, and with location awareness, you’ll also be able to tell it to turn off when you leave a specific area, like when you’re at the park with your children or having lunch with a friend.

Notifications Notifications are probably the biggest annoyance in iOS, and frequency isn’t even the biggest problem, organization is. With iOS 12, Apple is changing the way we receive notifications, and it could have a major

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WWDC 2018 Notifications will finally be grouped in iOS 12

impact on the amount of time we need to flick through them.

First and foremost, Apple will be grouping notifications in iOS 12, so you won’t need to scroll through dozens of Mail or Twitter notifications every day. Alerts will be grouped by app, topic and thread, and you’ll be able to clear or triage all of them with just a swipe. Additionally, Apple will be adding new settings for notifications that let you long-press on an alert to get new actions, such as turning off future notifications from the app or letting you turn on silent mode. And Siri will get in on the game as well, offering suggestions to turn off notifications for apps that you don’t use often.

Screen Time While the enhancement to notifications and Do Not Disturb are nice, the biggest changes to iOS’s digital wellness is with Screen Time. Much like Android P’s new Dashboard, the app will provide a series of daily reports that let you keep tabs on how much time you’re spending in your favourite apps and how many notifications you’ve received, so you can try to cut down on your usage. To help in that regard, Apple is also providing a new dial that will let you set limits on how much time you can use an app. When you tell

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Parents will get much greater control over their children’s screen habits in iOS 12

Screen Time how much time you want to spend using Instagram, for example, an alert will let you know when the timer is nearing its end and full-screen messages will block your access when you try to launch an app that has reached its time limit. And since your settings stay synced across all of your devices, you won’t be able to cheat by switching from your iPhone to your iPad. (Don’t worry, you can override your decisions in the event of an Instagram emergency.)

Children While limiting our own screen time is important to our metal health, it’s loads more important for our children.

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While Amazon and Google each have apps that let parents set restrictions for how much time young ones can use their devices, Apple failed to implement any kind of parental controls in iOS 11, leading to some pointed criticism of the company.

That’s changing in a big way in iOS 12. With the Screen Time app, Apple is offering parents a new interface for controlling what their children can see and how long they can see it. With full remote management, parents will be able to create ‘allowances’ for children using different devices, setting limits based on usage and time of day. There will also be easier restrictions settings that limit specific apps and categories, or simply cut off certain types of content. Finally, parents will also be able to set apps that can always be used, such as Messages or Phone.

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ARKit 2 extends Apple’s lead in mobile AR Jason Cross looks at what’s new

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pple is serious about augmented reality. Tim Cook has been clear about how important it is, saying it will “change the way we use technology forever”. With ARKit in iOS 11, Apple brought AR capabilities to hundreds of millions of phones. With iOS 12, it brings developers ARKit 2 with enhanced capabilities like 3D object detection, persistent experiences, and shared AR spaces.

It’s a robust improvement on what is arguably the best set of AR tools for mobile devices anywhere.

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What’s new in ARKit 2 When ARKit debuted with iOS 11 last September it immediately made waves, but the limitations were obvious. With iOS 11.3, the ARKit developer tools got more powerful, adding the ability to track vertical surfaces and non‑flat surfaces. Now, just one year later, Apple is updating to ARKit 2. Here’s what Apple says is new.

Improved face tracking: Apple didn’t dive into this, but the name is self-explanatory.

Realistic rendering: The rendering of augmented reality objects is already quite good. Apple didn’t say exactly how rendering has improved, but we expect more accurate lighting is key.

3D object detection: ARKit detects flat rectangle objects like posters or book covers, but ARKit 2 allows developers to detect fully 3D objects.

That’s going to be huge.

Persistent experiences: You can save AR spaces and objects that are linked to physical objects (such as toys) or physical spaces (like classrooms), so you can pick up where you left off later.

Shared experiences: Multiple users can use their iOS devices to view the same virtual environment, each from their own view. Apple is releasing a block‑breaking multiplayer game as a code demo, and Lego showed off a virtual plays pace where up

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WWDC 2018 LEGO showed an impressive demo that used nearly all of ARKit 2’s new capabilities: 3D object detection, multiplayer, and persistence

to four players can interact with a combined virtual and real play space all at once.

Measure app When ARKit launched, it was quickly followed by a flood of measurement apps. Apps to take virtual measurements of lengths, volumes, room sizes, you name it. Apple is getting in on the game with its own measurement app, aptly named Measure.

Measure looks like a simple, reliable version of the many AR measurement apps out there. You can make linear measurements, even of 3D objects to quickly

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compute volume. It even recognizes rectangular objects automatically, so you just point at a poster, photo, or rectangular table, tap, and get a full set of measurements. This is one of Apple’s simpler apps, such as the Calculator, Compass, or the built-in Flashlight. And like those apps, it’s an appropriate thing to have built into your phone, but not the sort of groundbreaking experience that will make people switch to iPhone.

USDZ format Apple worked together with Pixar to develop a new file format for augmented reality objects called USDZ. It’s going to be supported by third‑party apps, including ones by Autodesk, Adobe, Sketchfab, and more. Adobe CTO Abhay Parasnis took to the stage to say that Creative Cloud will support the format, and that their tools will even allow what-you-see-is-whatyou-get editing of VR objects with iOS devices. Does this mean that USDZ will become a widely supported format, even beyond Apple devices? Apple wasn’t clear, but it looks like the odds are good that USDZ could becomes the next HEIC.

Supported devices According to Apple, “ARKit 2 and USDZ support will be available this fall as part of a free software update for iPhone 6s and later, all iPad Pro models, iPad fifth generation and iPad sixth generation.”

That’s pretty much every device that supported the original ARKit release.

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Why watchOS 5 gives your Apple Watch a boost The original £8,000 Apple Watch won’t be able to get it, though.

Michael Simon reports

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ith rumours swirling about the first Apple Watch redesign due to land in the autumn, Apple used its WWDC keynote to focus on some of the new features in watchOS 5. The new features just might keep some of those old models in circulation a little longer – though not the original Watch, which will be dropped from watchOS 5 compatibility.

From workouts to watch faces, version 5 is shaping up to be one of the best upgrades to watchOS in years,

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and we can’t wait to get our hands... er, wrists on it. Here are five reasons why it’ll be a must‑upgrade.

1. Fitness features Apple Watch is already one of the best fitness trackers you can buy, and watchOS 5 is only going to make it better. It starts with the Activity app. Instead of just tracking your own exercise, you’ll be able to set up weekly competitions with friends as you battle to earn those precious badges.

Workouts have been enhanced as well. There are new presets for yoga, hiking, and outdoor running, which will track things like your heart rate, elevation, and cadence. Your watch will also be able to automatically detect when a workout has started and let you know if you’ve forgotten to end it.

2. Walkie-Talkie While our Apple Watches already offer cool ways to communicate, Apple is adding another one in watchOS 5: Walkie‑Talkie. After a one‑time request during setup, you’ll be able to contact other Apple Watch users just by tapping a Talk button on the screen – without dialling, typing, or doodling. And it’ll work over Wi‑Fi or LTE, so you’ll never be out of range.

3. Siri watch face Since its introduction in watchOS 4, Siri has quickly become a favourite watch face, and it’s getting a host of improvements in watchOS 5. First off, there will be new cards for sports scores, maps, and heart rate, as well as support for the new Siri Shortcuts in iOS 12. But best of

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Third-party apps will be able to add their own cards to the Siri watch face in watchOS 5

all, developers will be able to get in on the fun with a new API that lets third‑party apps appear on the face as well. And finally, there will be no need to say “Hey Siri” anymore. Just raise your wrist and start talking.

4. Interactive notifications Notifications on Apple Watch are mostly a passive experience outside of Apple’s core apps, but we may be interacting with them a whole lot more in watchOS 5.

While phone alerts will still mainly be shortcuts, Apple is letting developers build buttons into notifications in watchOS 5, so we don’t need to bounce to an app just to turn on a workout or check into a flight.

Furthermore, with grouped notifications, you’ll be able to see full conversations without scrolling through unwieldy list of alerts. And when you get a link in Mail or Messages in watchOS 5, you’ll actually be able to view it on your tiny screen thanks to WebKit support.

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WWDC 2018 iOS 12 will let you listen to your favourite podcasts on your Apple Watch

Add it all up, and we’ll have even fewer reasons to pull our phones out of our pockets.

5. Podcasts and background audio Apple is finally bringing the Podcasts app to the watch.

That means you’ll be able to listen to your favourite podcasts on your watch, with synced playback across all of your devices so you’ll be able to pick up right where you left off. And one more thing for music lovers: third-party apps will now be able to keep their audio playing in the background, which opens up the possibility of a Spotify app.

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The devices that support iOS 12 and watchOS 5 Is your iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch going to get the latest operating system update? Jason Cross has the answer

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WDC 2018 is over, and Apple spent the entire keynote focusing exclusively on its new operating systems. Due to be launched in the autumn, as we’ve already seen they are full of interesting new features, but new features often come with a price. Major new operating systems don’t always support the same devices as the current version. Will your Apple device run the new OSes when they debut later this year? Consult our lists below.

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iOS 12 The new version of iOS will run on every iPhone and iPad that supports iOS 11. The operating system is chock full of awesome features, but if you have an older device, you shouldn’t worry too much about it slowing your iPhone or iPad to a crawl. A top focus for Apple this time around is improving performance, and it’s paying particular attention to older devices. So there’s a good chance your iPhone 6s will actually be a lot snappier with iOS 12 than with iOS 11. This is Apple’s list of all the devices that support iOS 12.

Supported iPhones • iPhone X • iPhone 8 • iPhone 8 Plus • iPhone 7 • iPhone 7 Plus • iPhone 6s • iPhone 6s Plus • iPhone 6 • iPhone 6 Plus • iPhone SE • iPhone 5s Supported iPads • 12.9in iPad Pro 2nd generation • 12.9in iPad Pro 1st generation • 10.5in iPad Pro • 9.7in iPad Pro • iPad 6th generation • iPad 5th generation

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• iPad Air 2 • iPad Air • iPad mini 4 • iPad mini 3 • iPad mini 2 Other supported devices • iPod Touch 6th generation • HomePod

watchOS 5 The new version of watchOS brings some great new features, including stacked notifications, interactive notifications, better fitness tracking, Podcasts, and a nifty Walkie-Talkie feature, just to name a few.

But there’s a catch: If you have the original Apple Watch (often called Series 0), you won’t get the update.

The new OS officially requires an iPhone running iOS 12 and Apple Watch Series 1 or later. And we expect Apple to introduce a new Apple Watch Series 4 this autumn, which will, of course, ship with the new OS on board.

Supported Apple Watches • Apple Watch Series 1 • Apple Watch Series 2 • Apple Watch Series 3 Support dropped • Original Apple Watch (Series 0)

Apple Watch Series 3

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What Apple failed to announce at WWDC Why the announcements Apple didn’t make at WWDC might be more important than the ones it did. Michael Simon reports

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ow that the WWDC 2018 keynote has come and gone, we’ll be spending the next several weeks breaking it all down. Apple had a lot to say over the course of its two-hour-plus keynote, but there were several apps, features, and products that were conspicuously absent from the main stage.

Unlike prior years in which Apple executives spent lots of time talking up features to death, there was

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a notable lack of filler during this year’s keynote.

Apple had a lot to say about its four main operating systems – so much so, in fact, that some of iOS 12’s most interesting features didn’t even make the cut. But even beyond longer Animoji messages and AutoFill passwords, there were a few missing announcements that point to something big on the horizon (and I’m not even talking about MacBooks).

Apple’s announcements are certainly important to iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, and Apple TVs new and old, but the things it didn’t announce could make an even bigger impact. Here are some of the things Apple didn’t talk about during the WWDC keynote and what that means for the rest of the year:

Apple Music, Videos, and HomePod Ever since its unveiling in 2015, Apple Music has been a mainstay at WWDC, but Apple’s streaming service was notably absent from yesterday’s keynote. At a time when Spotify is making a major push to leave Apple Music in its dust, we expected Apple to devote at least some time to its streaming strategy, but the iOS 12 and macOS Mojave round-ups passed with nary a mention.

And HomePod was basically producta non grata at WWDC. Not only did Apple pass on unveiling a cheaper HomePod – which admittedly was a major long shot anyway – it barely mentioned its new hi‑fi device during the show. HomePod wasn’t even used during the demo for Siri Shortcuts, which is an iOS 12 feature that has clear implications for a home speaker. And while tvOS and watchOS each got significant stage time, Apple was completely silent on HomePod’s audioOS.

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That could mean that Apple is saving some new features for a standalone event down the road, especially when you consider another thing Apple didn’t mention: its video service. It’s no secret that Apple is scooping up talent for a slate of TV shows due to release sometime in the next year, and I’ve long thought there was a possibility Apple would use the WWDC spotlight to tease a little something about its upcoming streaming video service. But no.

Apple hasn’t held a standalone music event since the iPod was supplanted by the iPhone, but this could be the year it returns. With Apple Music, HomePod, and the upcoming video service all missing from WWDC, it seems as though Apple is holding its cards for a bigger announcement down the road. And who knows, maybe we’ll even see a new iPod touch.

iPhone SE, iPads, and AirPower The rumours of an updated iPhone SE arriving this summer have been so persistent, I was legitimately surprised Apple didn’t use its patented One More Thing to announce its arrival at WWDC. But it would have been out of place. This year’s keynote was so utterly devoid of hardware, Apple clearly wanted the focus to be strictly on software. So we’ll have to wait for a new iPhone SE and iPads Pro, as well as a product Apple unveiled nearly nine months ago, but hasn’t started selling yet: the AirPower charging mat.

And I think they’re all related. While it’s possible Apple could wait until September to roll out its new iPads – which will likely have Face ID built in – it’s more likely that Apple will hold a July event to tie

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WWDC 2018 There was no mention as to when AirPower will be released

up all of these loose ends. That means AirPower will get a price and a release date, the iPhone SE 2 will make its long‑awaited appearance (with Qi support, I reckon), and the new 10.5‑ and 12.9in iPads Pro will make their debuts. And maybe AirPods’ wireless charging case will make an appearance too. Does that mean the iPad Pro will be able to wireless charge via AirPower too? Only time will tell.

Apple Watch Series 4 Granted, no one expected to see the launch of Apple Watch Series 4 during the keynote, but the watchOS

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5 demo might give us a pretty good idea of what the new model will bring. For one, watchOS 5 still doesn’t include an app for sleep tracking, one of Apple Watch’s most glaring missing features. It’s hard to imagine Apple going another full year without bringing the feature to Apple Watch, so my guess is that sleep tracking will be a feature of Apple Watch Series 4. That’s likely due to the impact it would have on battery life in the Series 3, 2, and 1 models, which is a problem that will be solved with a new chip and a bigger battery.

Another thing missing from watchOS 5 are new watch faces. While we got Toy Story, Kaleidoscope, and Siri faces in watchOS 4, the only ‘new’ face to speak of in watchOS 5 is expanded capabilities for the Siri face to included third-party cards. While that could mean Apple has run out of ideas, I think it’s more of a sign that Apple is simply saving them for the September debut of the new watch. And I’m willing to bet there will be a bigger reveal besides new cartoon characters when Apple announces Watch Series 4: third-party support. By opening up the Siri face to all apps, Apple is signalling a willingness to let developers have access to more than just complication shortcuts on the watch face screen.

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iOS 11.4’s new features Apple finishes releasing the features it promised at last year’s WWDC, reveals Jason Cross

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OS 11.3 was released in March 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. Now, iOS 11.4 delivers the rest of the features Apple spoke about at WWDC 2017. The big‑ticket items are Messages in iCloud, AirPlay 2, and stereo pairing for HomePod.

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New features AirPlay 2 and HomePod stereo After a brief appearance in iOS 11.3 betas, AirPlay 2 was removed prior to the final release. Now, it’s back for good in the final release of iOS 11.4. AirPlay 2 is the first major update to Apple’s wireless audio streaming protocol in years. It primarily adds multiroom audio to iOS devices, when using AirPlay 2 compatible speakers.

You can adjust the audio levels on a room-by-room basis, or even play different music in different rooms.

The HomePod and Apple TV (4th generation or later) will be AirPlay 2 compatible with the 11.4 update, but some other AirPlay compatible speakers will also be updated to support the new protocol.

Finally, multi-room audio for those with multiple AirPlay 2-compatible devices

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After coming and going several times though the iOS 11 point release betas, the ability to pair up two HomePod devices in the same room finally lands in iOS 11.4. When you add two HomePods to the same room (during setup, or by changing the room in the Home app), you’ll be prompted whether you want them to be a stereo pair or not. If you agree, the two HomePods will operate in sync, playing back music with a wider sound stage than just a single unit.

Messages in iCloud We’ve been waiting for this forever, it seems, so forgive us for being annoyed that it was removed from the final iOS 11.3 release after working all the way up through the final beta release.

Messages in iCloud is back in iOS 11.4, though.

You should be prompted to enable it when you first launch Messages. Or you can go to Settings, your Apple ID, iCloud, and toggle the feature in the list of Apps using iCloud. Of course, for Messages in iCloud to work on your Mac, you’ll need a new version of macOS 10.13.5 as well.

Schoolwork and ClassKit At Apple’s education event in March, the company previewed two new software initiatives: the Schoolwork app and ClassKit API. Schoolwork is made for teachers to hand out information, make assignments, and keep track of their students’ progress. ClassKit is for developers of educational apps. It allows them to designate different activities and information in their apps so that teachers can use them with Schoolwork.

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These new features are live in iOS 11.4, giving educational app developers plenty of time to implement them before the start of the new school year in the autumn.

How to get it You’ll get a notification on your iPhone or iPad when the new version of iOS is ready, but that notification can sometimes take a few days to show up. Check immediately by going to Settings > General > Software Update. Your HomePod should automatically update to the latest version of iOS as well, but you can force it to update as well. From an iPhone or iPad running iOS 11.4 that is on the same network as your HomePod, do the following: open the Home app, then tap the little location arrow icon in the upper left of the Home tab. Scroll down to the Speakers section and tap Software Update.

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Why A12 chip will be best feature in this year’s iPhone Apple’s smaller chip is a big deal, writes Michael Simon

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WDC may be over, but once the iOS 12 dust clears all eyes will be on the next iPhone.

With rumours suggesting three new models, including a 6.5in handset, Face ID enhancements, and faster charging, there’s a lot to be excited about, but a new report from Mark Gurman at Bloomberg suggests that the new iPhone could be revolutionary in a way most people might not even realize: the

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processor. iPhone supplier Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has reportedly begun production on the processor for the next iPhone, and it could be an industry‑first.

While we know that the iPhone will have an A12 chip, following the pattern of annual chip upgrades, the new processor will reportedly use an 7‑nanometre design. That obviously means it’s significantly smaller than the 10nm A11 Bionic, but it would also represent a breakthrough for both Apple and the industry, as other mobile chipmakers are working on 7nm die shrinks, but those aren’t expected to launch until next year. After all, Apple only just launched its own 10nm die process with the A11 (following Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 earlier in 2017), so moving to 7nm just a generation later is pretty impressive.

But along with bragging rights, the new manufacturing process will bring improvements to the next iPhone. Here are areas where the A12 could dramatically change the next crop of iPhones.

Performance and speed Apple always delivers a healthy speed boost when it launches a new iPhone, but the new 7nm chip could bring a huge jump over the A11. This year’s processor brought a 25 percent increase in performance coupled with a 30 percent graphics boost, but those numbers don’t tell the whole story. Since the iPhone X has so many more pixels to push, the new chip is actually much more powerful than the A11 Fusion.

There’s a reason why Apple is moving so quickly from 10nm to 7nm, and I suspect it’s due

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FEATURE Apple’s A11 Bionic was a big deal for the iPhone X, but the A12 could blow it out of the water

to a major breakthrough in speed and power. With the ‘all‑screen’ experience reportedly coming to all three models this year, including with a 6.5in monster, the new chip will need to deliver serious graphics power to keep everything running smoothly. With the 7nm process, Apple could make the jump from three GPU cores to six, which would dramatically up gaming and app performance.

Battery life In simple terms, the smaller the chip, the more power efficient it is. But with the A12, it could go way beyond that. With the A11’s 10nm process, Apple saw incredible battery gains, even if they weren’t necessarily reflected in the real world. Take a look at the iPhone X as compared to the 7 Plus to see what I mean.

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Battery Capacity iPhone X: 2,716mAh iPhone 7 Plus: 2,900mAh Talk Time iPhone X: Up to 21 hours iPhone 7 Plus: Up to 21 hours Internet use iPhone X: Up to 12 hours iPhone 7 Plus: Up to 13 hours Video playback iPhone X: Up to 13 hours iPhone 7 Plus: Up to 14 hours Even with a smaller battery on the iPhone X, the two phones are pretty much equal. But when you consider The A11 Bionic processor is the brains behind the iPhone X and its awesome camera, but the A12 will be even better

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how many more pixels the 2,436x1,125 iPhone X has to push compared to the 1,920x1,080 iPhone 7 Plus, the power efficiency of the A11 chip starts to come into view. According to TSMC’s own website, the 7nm die shrink results in 40 percent power reduction, so the new 7nm chip could lead to a real breakthrough in power efficiency that pushes the next iPhone into multiple days of battery life, especially if Apple finally puts 3,000mAh batteries in the new iPhones.

Camera Okay, we already know that the next iPhone will have an improved camera, but the new chip could represent a huge jump in Apple’s homegrown image signal processor. Apple generally keeps the technical improvements of its ISP pretty close to the vest, but it’s easy to see the enhancements the A11 chip brought, including improved low-light autofocus and noise reduction, along with studio lighting effects and better portrait processing.

With the 7nm A12, however, the camera on the next iPhones could be vastly improved, as Apple uses the new architecture to further refine the system with faster HEIF and HEVC encoding, super-slo-mo video recording, and whatever else Apple has been cooking up in its labs. A new die process will include enhancements to all of Apple’s chips, and topping the list is the ISP, arguably the most important piece of silicon in the whole phone.

AI and machine learning Shrinking the die isn’t just about making a chip more efficient, it’s also about making it smarter. For the first

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time with the A11 Bionic, Apple built a dedicated dualcore neural engine inside the iPhone’s main processor designed for ‘specific machine learning algorithms and enables Face ID, Animoji and other features’. The results were quite good, but with Google continuing to turn up the AI heat, the A12 processor will need to be a whole lot smarter to compete. With Google Lens and AI cameras, Android phones are able to use their viewfinders to identify objects and adjust on the fly, and I suspect the new A12 chip will bring some major new features to Apple’s neural engine.

5G and Gigabit LTE The first Gigabit networks are likely to launch sometime before the next iPhone lands, and the competition to deliver Wi-Fi speeds on cellular networks is shaping up to be a fierce one. It won’t be long before all of the major carriers are offering Gigabit LTE and 5G plans, and the new modem on the A12 chip will likely be able to take advantage of them, possibly via a custom Apple‑designed modem.

And since Apple will be launching its own new video service soon, those blazingly fast speeds will be even more important.

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REVIEW

Wanle Gamers Console for iPhone Price: £18.99 from fave.co/2xQoMNe

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vailable for every iPhone model from 6 to X, the Wanle Gamers Console for iPhone is undeniably a conversation piece, although experience tells me that some of those conversations might occasionally involve someone sternly telling you to shut up. From what I can tell, the ‘Sound’ button doesn’t actually silence the case, which means you should never expect to play the 27 games packed

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within while you’re in a hushed reception room or waiting for a movie to begin. It might start chirping when you slip it in your pocket or when you hold the phone the ‘wrong’ way when making a call.

Wanle’s case looks like a Game Boy from a few feet away, right down to the yellow-green display and the two jauntily slanted grey buttons perched below the directional pads and action buttons. You have to flip your phone upside down in order to play it – as the rear camera hole would get in the way of the Wanle case’s screen if held normally – but otherwise that’s all it takes to start enjoying the games. The only real setup involves slipping one of the two coin‑sized batteries that come with the package into the case, attaching the case to your phone, and hitting the power button.

That’s basically Frogger, believe it or not

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Just don’t expect a Game Boy-like gaming experience with its £18.99 price tag. It may look like Nintendo’s handheld device, but Wanle’s case has far more in common with the little one‑off handheld games on sale in the 1980s, where the basic action and graphics barely changed and you sometimes had to use your imagination to get the most of out if. In other words, if you’re planning on slapping down cash on this so you can play Game Boy classics such as Super Mario Land, Gargoyle’s Quest, or Battletoads, you’ve seriously got the wrong idea.

The Wanle case’s screen looks to simpler times, in stark contrast to the iPhone’s retina screen and TrueDepth camera that scans faces and lets you play Fortnite. From a distance, in fact, you could easily mistake almost all 27 Wanle games for Tetris.

It’s all so abstract that it’s not always clear which game you’re playing. That’s partly because the games don’t even have names. Instead, each game corresponds to an arbitrary letter of the alphabet and you need to scroll one at a time to select one. As you scroll, the bricks at the top rearrange themselves to resemble a letter while the ones in the middle act out a preview of the game you’ll play. Meanwhile, the bricks at the bottom spell out the level you’ll start at, which can be changed by pressing the left or right buttons on the D-pad. Somehow, the system manages to be simple and confusing at the same time.

I scrolled to ‘E’ to find the Frogger knock‑off, in which I manoeuvred a single block through rows of moving bricks. The letter ‘D’ let me play a Galaga clone, although I had to imagine the missiles since they

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didn’t show up on screen. Games I‑Z are all variants on Tetris, ranging from the standard tile‑matching puzzler to one that made the stack of blocks move to the right every few seconds.

As for its actual effectiveness as a case? It depends.

Aside from the fact that it saddles you with two screens to worry about (and Wanle’s is extraordinarily prone to scratches), the case itself seems perfectly capable taking a few punches as long as they’re aimed at the iPhone’s back. It’s thick, for one, and the rubbery buttons may even allow for a little ‘bounce’ when it falls. (My one real problem is that the circular battery is visible through the white version of the case.)

While it might protect the back, however, I wouldn’t put too much faith in this case as a defender against shattered screens. Since it rests flush against the front of the phone, there’s little protection against dreaded display-down drops. And considering that the iPhone’s display faces the pavement when you’re playing the case, that’s more than a little terrifying. One careless drop in a moment of frustrated gaming, and boom, there’s an expensive screen repair on your hands.

But in certain, specific instances, it’s a case I’d like to use. When I’m out with friends and that inevitable moment comes up when I whip out my phone to check the time or take a photo, I’m almost certain one of those friends is going to notice it. In fact, I’m almost as certain that one of them will want to talk about it and probably want to give it a try. Though if I’m being honest, I’ll be watching them closely the whole time to make sure they don’t drop it, which kind of defeats the purpose of it being a case.

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The case doesn’t extend far past the display, which means you’ll likely be in trouble if your phone hits the ground screen-first

Verdict The Wanle Gamers Console is too prone to making noises at inopportune times for use as a daily carry, and its dicey display protection makes it a dubious candidate for protection. Still, it does a remarkable job of looking like a Nintendo Game Boy and the games, while simple, are fun and varied. Plus, considering you can pick one up for just under £19, it’ll make a fun conversation piece for parties or outings with friends. Leif Johnson

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BUYINGGUIDE GUIDE BUYING

Best VPN for iOS A VPN lets you stay anonymous online, and access blocked content such as Netflix US. Ashleigh Macro reveals your different options

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urfing the web on a public Wi‑Fi can be a dangerous business, opening your iPhone or iPad up to spying eyes. To avoid that, you could use a VPN (virtual private network) to stay private and anonymous. It also hides your location online, which can allow you to access blocked content and blocked sites such as US Netflix when you are in the UK or BBC iPlayer when you are abroad. Here we talk you through the best iOS VPN options.

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It’s important to note that it is against Netflix, BBC iPlayer and other blocked content’s terms and conditions to access them using a VPN, so proceed with caution as you risk getting your account blocked.

NordVPN Price: From $2.75 (around £2) per month URL: fave.co/2kXSrut Our pick of the best VPN for iPhone is NordVPN. Based in Panama, NordVPN is outside of the jurisdiction of the ‘14‑eyes’ (a group of countries that have agreed to collect, analyse and share information, much of which involves internet activity). There are more than 3,200 servers available across 60 countries, and encryption levels are among the highest available in a VPN. You can connect to up to six devices at one time with your NordVPN account, which offers pricing starting at around $2.75 (around £2) per month if you take advantage of the three‑year deal.

ExpressVPN Price: From $6.67 (around £5) per month URL: fave.co/2vPq5a9 Another popular and trusted VPN option is ExpressVPN, which offers apps for all operating systems including iOS, so you can use it on your iPhone. You can connect to three devices at once, and there’s no limit to bandwidth, server switching or speed. The recommended plan ExpressVPN plan is the year-long subscription, which normally works out

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at $8.32 (around £6.20) per month and saves you 35 per cent over the less committed month-long option at $12.95 (around £9.70). However, right now there’s a special offer that will get you 15 months for the price of 12, and this works out at $6.67 (around £5) per month.

There’s also a 30‑day money back guarantee with no questions asked.

PureVPN Price: From $1.95 (around £1.40) per month URL: fave.co/2xQeX1R Another great option is PureVPN. It’s a popular and trusted choice, and it’s competitively priced, too.

PureVPN includes a built-in auto-redial that will automatically reconnect should your connection drop for uninterrupted browsing, and there are more than 750 servers available across 140 countries. Its iPhone app is simple and smart, and lets you tailor your connection based on the Internet activity you intend to do. To use it, you’ll need to sign up to a subscription package starting at just $1.40 (around £1.05) per month for three years with a special offer.

The money-back guarantee is seven days.

Goose VPN Price: From £2.99 per month URL: fave.co/2CUf5uo Goose VPN is also a good option if you’re looking for a VPN for your iPhone. It’s fast and easy to use, with a simple interface perfect for new users. There’s a 30‑

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day free trial available, after which the subscription costs as little as £2.99. That’s for 50GB, though, which might not be enough for all users. The one year plan without the 50GB limit is £4.99 per month. There aren’t huge numbers of servers and countries to choose from via Goose VPN, though. There are just 27 countries available and 77 servers. We’d recommend taking advantage of the trial to check whether the server locations you require are available.

CyberGhost Price: From €2.75 (around £2.10) per month URL: fave.co/2kSMMWD CyberGhost is another great option, and it’s also well priced. It’s headquartered in Romania, which is outside the 14-eyes group of countries that share signals intelligence. One of the great things about CyberGhost is its ease-of-use. It’s simple and intuitive, and does lots of the hard work for you. There are more than 1,150 servers available to connect to 49 different countries. You can get CyberGhost for £2.51 per month if you sign up for two years, but if you want to commit to just one month it’ll be £8.65 per month.

CyberGhost lets you safely stream services such as YouTube

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VyprVPN Price: From £4.08 per month URL: fave.co/2CUwd33 VyprVPN offers value for families looking for multiple simultaneous connections. If three connections is enough, you’re looking at £4.08 per month for a year.

It’s £5.83 if you need five. There are more than 700 servers available to connect to worldwide, and it’s quick and easy to set up a high quality connection.

You’ll find a kill switch to protect your data should the VPN connection fail, and the iPhone apps are simple to use, too.

Private Internet Access Price: From £2.10 per month URL: fave.co/2CTqevm Private Internet Access is another of the best VPNs that also comes a low price tag. At less than £2.50 per month for a two-year subscription, it offers anonymous browsing and access to blocked content including Netflix US. The iPhone app is incredibly simple and easy to use, and it’s also super-speedy.

A solid option.

Private Internet Access’s home screen

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IPVanish Price: From £5 per month URL: fave.co/2sP13Ht Another option that offers lots of great features is IPVanish, which is both good-looking and easy to use. It has 750 servers in 60 countries. It’s going to appeal to beginners, as it’s one of the most intuitive VPNs we’ve used, but it does have one downside and that is that it’s located in the US. That’s not a problem for most casual users, but if 100 percent privacy is your main concern then you might want to look elsewhere. The company does promise that it doesn’t keep any logs, though.

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Latest iOS games Andrew Hayward looks at this month’s best new releases

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n the hunt for something new and fun to play on your iPhone or iPad? Luckily, the App Store is constantly being flooded with fresh games, and this month brought us a solid array of enticing debuts.

Like on‑the‑go puzzle games? Tiny Bubbles and Homo Machina might fit the bill. Into role‑playing adventures?

We have Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth and Might & Magic: Elemental Guardians on our list. Looking for something else entirely? Read on to find the biggest and most interesting new iOS game releases.

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1. Pocket Run Pool Price: Free from fave.co/2kYkavr As the title suggests, Pocket Run Pool plays with the classic game of pool, but turns it into a singleplayer high score chase. Here, you’ll need to carefully sink balls based on the number of points you can generate. The number of each ball is enhanced by the score multiplier at each pocket, and if you scratch or miss more than three times, it’s game over. Pocket Run Pool is a fun new angle on a done-to-death mobile genre, and like Gage’s other games, it’s a friendly free‑to‑play release with extra perks offered for the £3.99 full unlock fee.

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2. Tiny Bubbles Price: £4.99 from fave.co/2sP4A8H There’s no shortage of cute, colour‑matching puzzle games on the App Store, but Tiny Bubbles still finds a unique hook in a very familiar genre. Here, you’ll manipulate clusters of soap bubbles, which carry different colours and must be paired up in bundles of four or more before they can be popped. Luckily, Tiny Bubbles doesn’t stop there. Instead, it quickly shifts between several variations on the theme, including severing edges between bubbles to mix their colours, dealing with odd creatures within them, and contending with a pesky fish who adds a new bubble after each move. At a glance, it might not stand out, but there’s a lot more beneath the surface of this bubble-bobbler.

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3. Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth Price: £17.99 from fave.co/2kUtpwj Like the classic Final Fantasy Tactics before it, Square Enix’s Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth has charted a journey from the original PlayStation in the late 1990s to Sony’s PSP handheld, and now finally ported over to iPhone and iPad. And even after all these years, it’s still worth the cash for die-hard role-playing fans. Valkyrie Profile doesn’t have quite the same legendary status as Final Fantasy, but Lenneth is a cult favourite among Japanese RPGs, with an epic adventure inspired by Norse mythology, as well as sharp pixel graphics and turn-based team combat. It’s a shame that you can’t try the game free before paying to unlock the rest, but if you’ve enjoyed other sprawling Square Enix epics on mobile, then it might be worth the investment.

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4. Homo Machina Price: £2.99 from fave.co/2sNXtgW The human body is an incredible machine comprised of interconnected systems, which work in harmony to perform so many vital tasks. But what if that machine wasn’t built of bones and tissue and guts, but instead of levers, wires, gears, and an army of microscopic people trying to keep everything in check? That’s the premise behind Homo Machina. It’s a lightweight puzzle game about keeping the body upright and working, as you open up eyes, clear the nose, listen to music, and more. It’s light on instruction; most of the time, you’ll just fiddle with the sights until you figure out the next action. But it’s gorgeously illustrated, with a pleasurably low-key tone and pace.

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5. Eden Obscura Price: Free from fave.co/2sOpLaR Eden Obscura is a game about traipsing around an abstract garden, which you’ll do by swinging around plants and rocks and then flinging yourself through the air towards another destination. The goal is to grab enough little spectra icons and grow more and more plants in each area. It’s a reimagined take on a decadeold cult PlayStation 3 favourite called PixelJunk Eden, and while the goal and trippy, atmospheric soundtrack remain intact, Obscura sports a different look. It actually pulls part of the background from your device’s back camera, and then layers on myriad effects and filters.

This freebie is a good pick for relaxing and winding down at the end of a long day.

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6. Scalak Price: £1.99 from fave.co/2kSD5Yl On the other hand, if you’re looking something to really tax your brain, then you might want to check out Scalak.

This original puzzler offers a serious challenge as you attempt to place panels onto objects at the correct points. At first, it’s as simple as dragging and dropping the circle, triangle, and square panels onto their obvious destinations. It doesn’t stay obvious for long.

Quickly, the game finds you rotating objects to find the right fit for a panel, as well as stacking up layers, contending with light beams, and rearranging sets of cubes to find the correct pattern to fit a mesh of pipes onto. Scalak is incredibly tricky, but in a satisfying, worth-the-struggle kind of way.

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7. Disney Heroes: Battle Mode Price: Free from fave.co/2kVoKdR Disney Heroes: Battle Mode is a mega movie mash-up starring 25 heroes from recent Disney and Pixar flicks, including The Incredibles, Wreck-It Ralph, Judy Hopps, Buzz Lightyear, and Captain Jack Sparrow. They all wind up in the same world inside of a digital city, in which a virus is corrupting copies of themselves and forcing them into team-based skirmishes.

It’s a neat concept, and the 2D animation looks great,but Disney Heroes spends more time showing you action than actually letting you participate. The fights are mostly automated, and can be fully automated if you choose, and they don’t get any more complex or involving over time. Still, serious Disney fans might find this a solid diversion for filling a few spare minutes.

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8. Might & Magic: Elemental Guardians Price: Free from fave.co/2kYnyq9 The Might and Magic name is legendary in gaming, spanning more than 30 years of fantasy role‑playing adventures dating back to the Apple II, but Ubisoft’s Might & Magic: Elemental Guardians takes on a much different tone. It’s cartoonish and colourful, delivering a free-to-play battling experience in which you’ll command warriors and creatures alike.

Elemental Guardians plays like a streamlined, turn-based RPG, as you unleash attacks and try to clear-through aggressive attackers. It’s a lot more hands-on than Disney Heroes, thankfully, and there are hundreds of beasts to amass, upgrade, and unleash in combat. It’s a freemium game and could well feel like a grind with extended play, but the gorgeous graphics might inspire you to give it a shot.

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9. Jurassic World Alive Price: Free from fave.co/2kVC5CY Harry Potter: Wizards Unite won’t be the only licensed mobile game to try and recapture Pokémon Go’s location-based success this year. Launched ahead of the new film, Jurassic World Alive is incredibly similar to its inspiration at its core, tasking you with wandering around the real-world to capture dinosaurs that lurk on the in‑game map. From there, it’s a bit different. Rather than capture the beasts, you’ll use a flying drone to suck out DNA samples, and if you snag enough of them, you can replicate one for your own collection, and then use it in battle against other dinos. The Go formula feels like an odd fit for the Jurassic franchise, but if you need a fresh excuse to get out of the house, this will do.

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10. Super Hydorah Price: Free from fave.co/2xRsO8b If you ever get an itch for old-school, side-scrolling space shooter games such as R-Type and Gradius, then here’s one that you wouldn’t have played in a dank arcade ages ago. Super Hydorah is an exacting tribute to the retro arcade shoot-‘em-up genre, keeping the same kind of delightful pixel graphics while delivering a fresh campaign to blast through. As the level automatically scrolls sideways, you’ll move your auto‑firing ship with your thumb, zipping around as needed to land shots and evade projectiles. Super Hydorah’s levels are a bit larger in scale than some of the old-school favourites, but by and large it sticks to the template. Still, even though Super Hydorah isn’t super original, genre fans should still get a kick out of it.

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How to: Create a Memoji iOS 12 brings the ability to create a custom Animoji of a face, called a Memoji, on your iPhone X. David Price shows how

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s we’ve already seen (page 4), Apple unveiled significant updates to all four of its operating system platforms at its WWDC 2018 keynote presentation, but by far the most time was spent on iOS 12 for the iPad and iPhone.

The new iOS 12 update – which at the moment is available in beta – brings a speed boost (particularly on older devices), FaceTime conversations for up to 32 participants, new augmented reality features, smart sharing in Photos and tools for monitoring and limiting

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your own (and your children’s) app usage. But we’re most excited about the new ability to create your own custom Animoji.

The new feature, called Memoji, lets you create an emoji of your own face – or the face of anyone you’d like to impersonate – and then animate this with you own facial movements, picked up by the Face ID front scanners on the iPhone X. Here we show how to create and use Memoji.

Creating a Memoji 1. Open the Messages app, and either join an existing thread or start a new one.

2. When you’re in a message or thread, you’ll see a row of icons at the bottom of the screen. If a monkey icon is visible, tap this to open the Animoji app. Otherwise, tap the A beside the text input bar to show a fuller list of Messages apps, then the monkey icon when it appears.

3. We don’t to use the monkey Animoji: instead, scroll through the selection of animals, robots, ghosts, and so on, until, on the far right-hand side, you’ll see a plus sign instead, labelled New Memoji. Tap this.

4. Now we’re in the Memoji creation tool. It’s a lot like the character creation screen in a video game: there are tabs for Skin, Hairstyle, Head Shape, Eyes, Brows, Nose and Lips, Ears, Facial Hair, Eyewear, Headwear and so on.

Work through each in turn, adjusting the options to suit.

Throughout this process an avatar will be visible at the top, showing your choices so far.

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Once you’ve finished you’ll be returned to the message or thread you were in before

5. When you’re happy with your Memoji, tap Done.

You’ll be returned to the message or thread you were in before, with the new Memoji animating in real time at the bottom of the screen. Now we’re ready to record a message.

(Don’t worry, you won’t have to go through that process each time you want to send a message. The Memoji is now saved in the drawer for later use. You can create multiple custom Memoji, too.)

Recording and sending a Memoji message We recommend playing around with your Memoji before starting to record – experiment with facial movements (include the new tongue detection added in iOS 12) to see how it all looks. Tap the red

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button when you’re ready and your iPhone X will start recording your performance. (This records audio too, note, even though it plays with the audio turned off by default.)

You can record for up to 10 seconds: there’s a countdown so you can see how long you’ve got left. It’ll stop automatically at this point, but you can press the red square to stop recording before then if you’ve said and done everything you want to.

You can play the recording to see how it went (press the curved arrow to watch again) before either deleting by tapping the bin icon or sending it to the designated recipient with the blue upward arrow.

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How to: Make group FaceTime calls in iOS 12, With iOS 12 you can have a group FaceTime call with up to 32 people. David Price walks you through the process

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here are plenty of interesting new features in the iOS 12 update unveiled at WWDC 2018, but the headline feature has to be group FaceTime.

It’s something that’s been demanded almost as long as FaceTime has existed: the ability to hold a video chat with more than one other device. And it doesn’t seem like much to ask, given that rival services such as Google Hangouts and Skype have offered it for

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years, and even Apple’s own old iChat service offered something similar back in 2005.

Well, we’re finally getting group calls in FaceTime (or at least, we will when iOS 12 launches in autumn 2018 – although you can try the feature now by installing the iOS 12 beta). In this article we show how group FaceTime calls work on iPhone and iPad, and how up to 32 people – more than in Hangouts and Skype, incidentally, which each support 25 – can enjoy a video chat together.

Set up a group FaceTime call The way you set up the call is essentially the same as it is right now: it’s just that, instead of typing in one name you type in more than one. The various participants will be called as normal, and as each picks up they will be added to the chat.

An easier way of setting up the call, however, may be to do so via the Messages app. From a group message thread it’s easy to switch to video. Apple assured us that members of the group will be able to join in or drop out of the video chat at any time – they won’t all be automatically swept into the video call against their wishes.

Chat with more than one other person The interface is a little confusing, so let’s talk about how it all works. For conversations as big as this one, the interface is split into two sections. At the top there are the participants that Craig Federighi referred to as the “leaders”, while the rest are relegated to the “roster” at the bottom. (For smaller groups there won’t

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be a roster – everyone will have a larger tile further up.)

Your tile sits in the bottom right-hand corner.

The tiles vary in size and prominence depending on how recently that person spoke. When someone starts talking their tile automatically gets bigger; it will stay that way until someone else starts talking, even if the first person stops. In similar fashion, someone from the roster can be promoted to the top section if they start talking.

If you want to give one of the participants more prominence even when they’re not talking, double-tap their tile and they will be brought forward. This effect won’t apply to what everyone else is seeing, of course.

New effects This isn’t specific to group chats, but iOS 12 also brings some fun new visual effects to FaceTime. Individual participants can choose to put stickers on their feed, apply photo filters (such as a cartoon effect) or replace their heads with Animoji. Experiment to find the effects that amuse you and your friends the most.

iOS 12 will let you add effects to FaceTime calls

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How to: Make Siri Shortcuts iOS 12 brings a new feature to Siri called Shortcuts. David Price reveals how to set up custom Siri Shortcuts

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iri got a lot of stick in the early days, and it’s still some way behind the leading lights of the voice-assistant market, but you have to give the team credit for improvement. At WWDC 2018, Apple introduced us to Siri’s newest feature, Shortcuts, and it sounds great. Over the following pages we introduce you to the new Siri Shortcuts feature in iOS 12, explain

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what it is and what it can do for you, and how to set up your shortcuts.

What are Siri shortcuts?

They are customizable Siri commands. Instead of having to wait for Apple to add a particular action or command phrase to Siri in an iOS update, you can create your own voice command for pretty much any action you like.

Because shortcuts are customizable, they can be used in any app, provided that app chooses to include an ‘Add to Siri’ button. And the best thing about shortcuts is that they can be multi-step, and that these various steps can even be from multiple apps within a single shortcut.

Note finally that Siri isn’t just a voice technology: it’s designed as an all‑round AI assistant, and shortcuts can be activated with a button tap instead of a voice command.

Smart shortcuts This is something we’ll need to spend some time testing out to see if it’s as smart as it thinks it is. But Apple says Siri is going to offer shortcuts when its experience of your habits leads it to believe you’re about to do something... or would if you hadn’t forgotten.

So you might order a coffee through a particular app at roughly the same time most mornings; you might then get a reminder in your lock screen at that time, offering a simple one‑tap command to do the same thing again without having to open the app.

Likewise you might seen an offer to ‘Call Grandma’ on her birthday, or ‘Turn on Do Not Disturb’ when

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you go into a cinema. Some will appear in the lock screen but others will only appear when you pull down notifications from the top of the screen.

Set up a shortcut within an app New Shortcut APIs allow app developers to implement custom Siri shortcuts into their software.

If you’re using an app and see a button labelled ‘Add to Siri’, then you’re in luck. All you need to do is tap the button and Siri will set up a shortcut for the indicated app function. Follow the instructions on screen – you will need to record your voice saying the chosen phrase.

It’s up to you what the phrase should be, but it’s best to choose something descriptive so you don’t forget it.

In this case the Tile app is creating a shortcut for finding lost keys. When you trigger the code phrase, it will activate the hardware feature and locate your iPhone from within the Siri UI. Obviously, the precise Here, the Tile app has created a shortcut for finding lost keys

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action and its integration within Siri will depend on how the developer choose to set it up.

Set up multi-step shortcuts This is where shortcuts become really powerful, allowing you to bind multiple actions, potentially from multiple apps, into a single tap or voice command.

The example given in the keynote presentation was a ‘surf time’ shortcut, which would get the surf report, pull in the weather for your chosen spot, check traffic and provide an ETA to the beach, and set up a reminder to put on sunscreen when you arrive.

We’re already talking about four different apps accessed via a single voice command, and it can get much more complicated than that. It’s the same principle we’ve enjoyed with Scenes in the Home app, where multiple devices are set to perform disparate behaviours with a single command.

To set up a multi-step shortcut you’ll need to download the Shortcuts app – search in the App Store.

This app is split into two tabs: Library, which is the shortcuts you’ve created, and Gallery, which is where you’ll find pre‑made shortcuts (which you can then edit and add to your library). You can tap on a shortcut in either Library or Gallery and then customize it using the editor, or create an entirely new shortcut by tapping Add Shortcut from Library.

Apple used an existing (custom) ‘Heading Home’ shortcut, with a wide range of steps in various apps, to demonstrate how multi-step shortcuts work. For each step you can tap to edit the details (adding extra recipients to the Messages step, for instance,

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or changing the destination for Maps), or remove it entirely by tapping the X in the top‑right corner.

To add a new step to the shortcut (or a first step to a new shortcut), tap the Search bar at the bottom, which will spring up and take up the whole screen. You don’t necessarily have to run a search – lots of frequently used actions are presented right there, included your favourites and Siri’s own suggestions at the top – but you can if you don’t see it.

Once you’ve found your desired action, simply drag it into the shortcut in the appropriate position and tap Done. The editor also allows you to set a voice phrase for the shortcut, or tap play to see it in action.

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How to: Get a refund from the App Store Sometimes apps don’t work the way they should. Lewis Painter shows how to get a refund when an app is broken or faulty

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ometimes iPhone and iPad apps don’t work the way they are supposed to (or the way they were advertised); other times they’re just plain broken, or they vanish from the App Store and cannot be downloaded from the Purchased tab. In situations like these, frustrated consumers can ask for their money back, but how is this done? And will they succeed in getting a refund?

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Here we explain how to apply for a refund from the App Store, and the rules governing this procedure.

Apps that vanish from the Purchased tab Fans of EA games such as Bejeweled 2, Dead Space and Need for Speed Shift got a nasty surprise back in 2015 when they disappeared from the App Store. Games had dropped off the store before, but this was different.

Previously, developers could remove their app from the App Store for whatever reason, while still making it available for download to anyone who had already bought it – via the Purchased tab on the App Store app on their iPhone or iPad. However, a change to the way the store works meant that now, when a developer completely removed their app from the App Store, it was also removed from the Purchased tab.

Apps from EA games are no longer available from the App Store

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Tweetbot 4 developer Paul Haddad had this issue when he released Tweetbot 4 soon after the launch of iOS 9. To avoid confusion, he decided to remove Tweetbot 3 from the App Store. He assumed that paid users of Tweetbot 3 would still be able to access it via the Purchased tab, but this wasn’t the case – and he got lots of complaints.

After some research, Haddad realized there was a way around this ridiculous new rule. To make an app downloadable via the Purchased tab, it has to still be available to buy in at least one region in the world; so he kept it for sale in the west African nation of Burkina Faso.

But what if a developer doesn’t want to do what Haddad did? What if they remove the app and that’s that? Don’t worry, you can always apply for a refund from Apple, for both App Store and iTunes purchases.

Can you get a refund from Apple?

Yes, almost certainly. That is especially true for those of us in Europe, as the law requires Apple to accept refund requests of digital content within 14 days of purchase, with no reason needed for the refund.

We’re not too sure how Apple will feel about refunding purchases from a single user on a regular basis, so it’s probably best to save it for an expensive app that doesn’t work on your device rather than a 99p app, for example. And you shouldn’t use refunds deliberately as a way of getting a ‘free trial’ of an app you fancy.

It’s worth noting that Apple has in the past refunded in‑app purchases made accidentally

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(children playing with a parent’s iPad, for example), although the company only does this once per customer, so again use it sparingly.

So: how do you get a refund from the App Store or iTunes? Well, you have a couple of options.

Get a refund via iTunes 1. Open iTunes on your Mac or PC, and make sure you’re signed in with your Apple ID. You can check this by clicking Account from the top menu bar – if it displays your Apple ID email, you’re already logged in and you can move on to the next step. If not, select Sign In and enter your password.

2. Next, click View My Account.

3. Scroll down to Purchase History and click See all.

From here, scour the list and find the app that’s causing a problem. To the right of the App’s icon you’ll see how much it cost and underneath ‘More’ highlighted in blue.

Apple provides space for you to describe the problem in detail

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Click this and then the Report a problem link. Note that you can only report a problem on apps that have been purchased within the past 90 days.

4. You’ll be taken to Apple’s website. Select a problem, describe it in the provided space, then click Submit.

Get a refund via iPhone or iPad Unfortunately, Apple hasn’t built any links to problem reporting into the App Store or iTunes apps for iOS, so if you’re stuck using an iPhone or an iPad, there’s a slightly different process to follow.

1. Launch the Mail app and find the invoice of the purchase you want refunded. The easiest way to do this is to search ‘Your receipt from Apple’ as this is always the subject of the invoice email.

2. Once you’ve found the invoice (this may take some time depending on how often you purchase items from the App Store/iTunes), simply tap ‘Report a problem’ next to the app.

3. Once you tap ‘Report a problem’ you‘ll be taken to Apple’s Report a Problem page in Safari. From here, simply follow Step 4.

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