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All-new iMac: 7 new colors, M1, and 4.5K Retina!

New iPad Pro: XDR display, 5G, and M1 power!

On test: Top true wireless headphones

MAC

iPHONE

iPAD

J U N E 2021 N O.1 8 1

PLUS

44 PAGES OF REVIEWS & HOW–TOS

BIG SUR SECRETS Essential Mac tips you never knew existed

HOW TO : Burn a DVD in Big Sur Create contact labels Expand storage in iOS Leave WhatsApp now!

BULLETPROOF YOUR BROWSER The essential guide to upgrading online security

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A BOLD NEW DIRECTION Wkh#dooĞqhz#lPdf#lv#Ľqdoo|#khuh$#Diwhu# prqwkv#dqg#prqwkv#ri#orrnlqj#dw#srru# uhqghuv#rq#wkh#lqwhuqhw#dqg#ehlqj#yhu|# vnhswlfdo#wkdw#lw#zrxog#hyhq#kdsshq/#lw# dfwxdoo|#ehfdph#d#uhdo#wklqj#dw#Dssohġv# Vshfldo#Hyhqw#5354#lq#Dsulo1#Dqg#er|/# dp#L#jodg#lw#glg1#Lwġv#kdug#wr#eholhyh#wkdw# vlqfh#wkh#lPdf#J8#odxqfkhg#lq#5339#zh# kdyhqġw#vhhq#d#pdmru#uhghvljq#ri#wkh# ghvnwrs0edvhg#Pdf1#Vxuh/#wkhuhġyh#ehhq# dhvwkhwlf#lwhudwlrqv#dorqj#wkh#zd|#ğ#wkh# eljjhvw#ri#wkhvh#ehlqj#wkh#doxplqxp# xqlerg|#wr#pdwfk#wkh#PdfErrn#udqjh#ğ# exw#48#|hduv#dorqj#wkh#olqh#dqg#lw#zdv# ghĽqlwho|#wlph#iru#d#pdmru#fkdqjh1# Krzhyhu#|rx#ihho#derxw#wkh#glvwlqfwlyh#qhz#ghvljq#ri#wkh#lPdf# ğ#L#iru#rqh#wklqn#lwġv#d#uhdoo|#jrrg#wklqj#ğ#zkdwġv#qrwlfhdeoh#lv# lwv#vlplodulw|#wr#wkh#lSkrqh#45#+dqg#wkh#qhz#lSdg#Sur,1#Wkdw#lv/#doo# qhdw/#vtxduhg0rļ#hgjhv#dqg#erog#froruv1#L#zrqghu#dw#zkdw#srlqw# wkh#PdfErrn#zloo#iroorz#vxlwB#Qrw#orqj#qrz/#L#uhfnrq1 Wkrxjk#zh#glgqġw#phqwlrq#lw#rq#wkh#fryhu/#grzq#wr#wkhuh#qrw# ehlqj#hqrxjk#vsdfh#wr#lqfoxgh#lw/#Dssoh#dovr#dqqrxqfhg#wkh#qhz# dqg#pxfk#uxpruhg#DluWdjv/#dv#zhoo#dv#wkh#ohvv#uxpruhg#Dssoh#WY# 7N#dqg#uhghvljqhg#Vlul#Uhprwh1#Qhz#Dssoh#WY#dvlgh/#L#zdv#uholhyhg# wr#vhh#wkdw#Dssoh#kdv#Ľqdoo|#uhohqwhg#dqg#pryhg#dzd|#iurp#wkh# hujrqrplf#qljkwpduh#wkdw#lv#wkh#rog#Vlul#Uhprwh1#Wkh#jrrg#qhzv=# Hyhq#li#|rx#grqġw#ex|#wkh#odwhvw#Dssoh#WY#7N/#|rx#fdq#jhw#wkh#qhz# uhprwh#vhsdudwho|ĩ#dqg#surpswo|#Ľqg#wkh#qhduhvw#zdvwh#elq#lq# zklfk#wr#ghsrvlw#|rxu#rog#uhprwh1#L#gr#krsh#Dssoh/#zkdw#zlwk#lwv# fxuuhqw#hfr#kdw#rq/#rļhuv#d#vxlwdeoh#uhf|folqj#vfkhph#wr#dyrlg#wkh# uhvxowdqw#pdvvhv#ri#odqgĽoo#zdvwh1#Wkh#qhz#uhprwh#rļhuv#dq# ģlqqrydwlyhĤ#folfnsdg#frqwuro/#zlwk#wkh#rxwhu#ulqj#ri#wkh#folfnsdg# zrunlqj#dv#d#mrj#frqwuro#wr#txlfno|#vnls#wr#d#sduw#ri#d#prylh#ru# vkrz1#Vrĩ#edvlfdoo|#olnh#wkh#rog#lSrg#lqwhuidfh#wkhqB#Rk/#dqg#L# nhsw#wkh#ehvw#wklqj#iru#odvw#ğ#wkh#qhz#uhprwh#qrz#dovr#kdv#d# srzhu#exwwrq1#Vr#|rx#grqġw#qhhg#wr#Ľqg#wkdw#rwkhu#uhprwh#mxvw#wr# wxuq#wkh#WY#rļ#zkhq#|rxġuh#Ľqlvkhg#iru#wkh#gd|1#Vrphwlphv#lwġv# wkh#vlpsoh#ghvljq#fkdqjhv#wkdw#pdnh#wkh#eljjhvw#glļhuhqfh1

>>>THE TEAM

Matt Lochrie Art Editor Matt thinks the new iMacs are colorful but would like to see them without the pastel–tone chin.

Iain Noble Production Editor Iain lives next to a train line so the noise–cancelling earphones group test (p54) came in handy!

Nick Peers

NICK ODANTZIS, Editor Twitter: @maclife

Contributor Want to stay safe online? Nick shows you how to upgrade your Mac’s internet security (p34).

JUN 2021 3

>>> Contents

J U N E 2021 N O.1 8 1

M AC L I F E .CO M

BIG SUR SECRETS 18

85 Big Sur secrets

Boost your online security

Smart gardens

We reveal the hidden tips and shortcuts that will help you get full use of Big Sur. By the end you’ll have dozens of ways to customize it for optimum productivity.

Learn how to beat malware, keep hackers at bay, and ensure your online activities stay private and out of the hands of those annoying ad agencies.

The smart home has well and truly escaped the bounds of its four walls and is taking over your yard. We take a look at the best new products.

4 JUN 2021

60 — Nudget: Spending Tracker

63 — GoodTask 6.4

60 Nudget: Spending Tracker

Consider

44 Airthings House Kit

The editor on the all–new iMac, and a TV remote…

46 Notability

Digital Life

47 TextBuddy

62 Scanner Pro: PDF Scanner App

47 Rip Them Off

63 GoodTask 6.4

48 Razer Kiyo Pro

Email us your views at letters@maclife.com

64 Dungeon of the Endless: Apogee

49 Gemini 2

The new iMac is here!

50 Attentat 1942

Slim and stylish, the next– gen iMac with Apple silicon will blow you away

52 ZipDrive

Outdoor smart tech From lawn mowers to alfresco movies, new tech offers many ways to make your garden that little bit smarter

65 Photo Culling 08

65 DEVONThink To Go 3.0

53 Commander One 3.0 14

66 6 apps to take the pain out of parenting

54 Group test: True wireless noise– cancelling headphones

Ask Our experts solve your Mac and iOS problems

Master Notiﬁcation Center in Big Sur

Reﬁned edits in Luminar AI

Burn a DVD in Big Sur

Print out labels for all your contacts

Get image ﬁles organized

Be mindful on your Mac

Get started with Signal

Ofﬂoad your iOS ﬁles

Use Sleep Mode in iOS 14

How it works: music recognition software

The Shift Matt Bolton examines the blurred line between an iPhone "hack" and a hidden feature

68 Best of the best Mac|Life’s pick of the best apps

Crave The gear we're lusting after this month

48 Razer Kiyo Pro

44 Airthings House Kit

Image rights clockwise from top left: Sawyer Blatz, GoodTask by HiLab, Razer, Airthings.

JUN 2021 5

Stay up to date with the

latest Apple news

EDITORIAL EDITOR Nick Odantzis ART EDITOR Matt Lochrie PRODUCTION EDITORS Iain Noble, Olivia Weaver GROUP PRODUCTION EDITOR Steve Wright GROUP ART DIRECTOR Jo Gulliver CONTRIBUTORS Alex Blake, Matt Bolton, JR Bookwalter, George Cairns, Alex Cox, Craig Grannell, Kenny Hemphill, Charlotte Henry, Hollin Jones, Cliff Joseph, Carrie Marshall, Rob Mead–Green, Howard Oakley, Nick Peers, Alex Summersby ART ART CONTRIBUTORS Apple PHOTOGRAPHY Bath Photo Studio - Phil Barker COVER IMAGE CREDITS: Apple, Panasonic Corporation. DIGITAL EDITION ART EDITOR Matt Smith DIGITAL EDITION SUB Rob Mead–Green

Future US, Inc. 15th Floor, 11 W 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036, USA www.futureus.com BUSINESS US CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER Luke Edson, luke.edson@futurenet.com EAST COAST ACCOUNT DIRECTOR Brandie Rushing, brandie.rushing@futurenet.com EAST COAST ACCOUNT DIRECTOR Michael Plump, michael.plump@futurenet.com EAST COAST ACCOUNT DIRECTOR Victoria Sanders, victoria.sanders@futurenet.com EAST COAST ACCOUNT DIRECTOR Melissa Planty, melissa.planty@futurenet.com EAST COAST ACCOUNT DIRECTOR Elizabeth Fleischman, elizabeth.ﬂeischman@futurenet.com WEST COAST ACCOUNT DIRECTOR Austin Park, austin.park@futurenet.com WEST COAST ACCOUNT DIRECTOR Jack McAuliffe, jack.mcauliffe@futurenet.com DIRECTOR, CLIENT SERVICES Tracy Lam tracy.lam@futurenet.com ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT Sheri Taubes INTERNATIONAL Mac|Life is available for licensing and syndication. Contact the International department to discuss partnership opportunities HEAD OF PRINT LICENSING Rachel shaw licensing@futurenet.com MANAGEMENT CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER Penny Ladkin–Brand CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER Angie O’Farrell CHIEF AUDIENCE & ECOMMERCE OFFICER Aaron Asadi MD TECH SPECIALIST Keith Walker GROUP EDITOR–IN–CHIEF Graham Barlow FINANCE DIRECTOR MAGAZINES & SUBSCRIPTIONS Dan Jotcham PRINT & PRODUCTION HEAD OF PRODUCTION UK & US Mark Constance SENIOR PRODUCTION MANAGER Matthew Eglinton PRODUCTION MANAGER Frances Twentyman PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Emily Wood AD PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Emma Thomas SUBSCRIBER CUSTOMER SERVICE Mac|Life Customer Care, PO Box 5852, Harlan, IA 51593–1352. Online: www.magazinesdirect.com Toll free: 1-844-779-2822 (Opening hours: Mon- Fri 8am to 7pm; Sat 10am to 2pm EDT). New Orders: help@magazinesdirect.com Renewals/Queries: help@mymagazine.co.uk BACK ISSUES Phone: (718) 772-3598 Website: www.futureus.com

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maclife.com Volume 15, Issue 6 MAC|LIFE (ISSN 1935-4010) is published 13 times a year, monthly plus a Spring issue following the April issue, by Future US, Inc., 11 West 42nd Street, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10036 USA. Website: www.futureus. com. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and at additional mailing offices. Newsstand distribution is handled by Curtis Circulation Company. Basic print subscription rates: 13 issues U.S. $36.00, Foreign: $56.00. U.S. prepaid funds only. Subscriptions do not include newsstand specials. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to PO Box 2024, Langhorne, PA 19047, USA. Ride-Along Enclosure in the following editions: None. Standard Mail Enclosure in the following editions: None. Canadian returns should be sent to IMEX Global Solutions, PO Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2, Canada. Future US, Inc. also publishes Maximum PC and PC Gamer. PRODUCED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. AND NOW, A WORD FROM OUR LAWYERS: All contents © 2021 Future Publishing Limited or published under license. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced, stored, transmitted, or used in any way without the prior written permission of the publisher. Future Publishing Limited (company number 2008885) is registered in England and Wales.

6 JUN 2021

Registered office: Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA, UK. All information contained in this publication is for information only and is, as far as we are aware, correct at the time of going to press. Future cannot accept any responsibility for errors or inaccuracies in such information. You are advised to contact manufacturers and retailers directly with regard to the price and other details of products or services referred to in this publication. Websites mentioned in this publication are not under our control. We are not responsible for their contents or any changes or updates to them. Mac, iPad, iPhone, iOS, macOS, and other terms are trademarks or registered trademarks of Apple Inc. This is a fully independent publication, not affiliated in any way with Apple or any other companies mentioned herein, and has not been authorised, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. If you submit material to us, you warrant that you own the material and/or have the necessary rights/ permissions to supply the material and you automatically grant Future and its licensees a license to publish your submission in whole or in part in any/all issues and/or editions of publications, in any format published worldwide, and on associated websites, social media channels and associated products. Any material you submit is sent at your own risk and, although every care is taken, neither Future nor its employees, agents, subcontractors, or licensees shall be liable for loss or damage. We assume all unsolicited material is for publication unless otherwise stated, and reserve the right to edit, amend, or adapt all submissions.

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Your opinions, rants & raves

11.2.3

Thank you for the write up in your April 2021 edition on moving to a new Mac. I’m ready to take the plunge for a new replacement iMac with the M1 chip — this will be a major and welcome upgrade from my late– 2013 desktop. In reading your guidance about Migration Assistant, you indicate that the macOS on the older system must match “to the decimal point” the one on the new system. I presume the M1–based iMac will be delivered with Big Sur, but my present system cannot be upgraded past the Catalina OS. What might I do to utilize the Migration Assistant tool to support the upgrade setup? BOB ANDREWS

11.2.2

We should have made that clearer: the source Mac can’t have a newer OS than the destination, even by one decimal point — so if your source Mac updated to 11.2.3 and your box-fresh Mac is on 11.2.2, Migration Assistant will refuse to work until you upgrade. We hit that problem with our M1.

machine you’re using to connect your old iMac to needs to be a 2019 or earlier Mac, though it appears that your iMac would have worked, provided it’s running High Sierra or earlier.

SuperDrive dilemma

Screen dream I have just got a new Mac mini M1. Can I connect it to my old iMac (21.5–inch), to use it as an external monitor? ENRIQUE Unfortunately not — the Apple Support article (support.apple. com/en-us/HT204592) clearly states that for Target Display Mode to work, the

SHARE WITH US! Image rights (Top Right): Apple.

I read the letter in the April 2021 issue about SuperDrive not responding when plugged into a hub. I have the same issue — it won’t power up when I connect it to my Zip Tech powered hub. The drive works ﬁne when it’s plugged directly into my iMac. Are there hubs that will work with the drive? My USB ports are full and a hub that powers the drive would be great. EARL BARGE From what we can tell, the SuperDrive is very fussy about which hubs/docks/ adapters it works with, if it's not an ofﬁcial Apple accessory. It's possible it

will work with particular hubs that comply with Apple's speciﬁcations, but since we don't know what they are, it's impossible to tell. It's a bit of a try it and see sort of thing. Apple lists its compatible adapters here: support.apple. com/en-gb/HT202665.

Subscription scribe I have a subscription question: I received an email for me to renew my subscription, but instead of taking me to myfavoritemagazines, it went to mymagazine.co.uk. Is this a scam? CHARLES KUTTNER We stopped using Myfavoritemagazines quite some time ago — mymagazine.co.uk is the place to go to handle an existing subscription, or new subscribers can go to magazinesdirect.com from now on.

EMAIL: letters@maclife.com FACEBOOK: facebook.com/maclife TWITTER: twitter.com/maclife

JUN 2021 7

START FEED YOUR MIND. FEAST YOUR EYES.

All–new iMac is here! Slim, stylish, next–gen iMac with Apple silicon BY ALEX SUMMERSBY PPLE HAS INTRODUCED an all–new iMac, “built from the ground up” around Apple’s M1 processor, with a strikingly thinner and more minimalist design. The new line, starting at $1,299 and shipping in May, has a 24–inch LED–backlit 4.5K display and vxssruwv#Wrxfk#LG#iru#wkh#Ľuvw#wlph# rq#d#Pdf1#Wkh#edvh#frqĽjxudwlrq/# with two Thunderbolt ports and 7– core GPU, is available in a choice of four colors with up to 1TB of SSD vwrudjh1#Wkh#frqĽjxudwlrq#zlwk#irxu# ports and 8–core GPU, available with up to 2TB of storage, starts at $1,499 and comes in seven colors. The new design is just 11.5mm (less than half an inch) thick, and wkh#edfn#lv#frpsohwho|#ľdw/#zlwkrxw#

The new iMac strikingly shares the same design language as iPhone 12 and iPad Pro.

8 JUN 2021

the bulging curve of the previous model. Apple says the design brings the iMac closer than ever to its vision of making the computer disappear. It also makes iMac look a lot like iPhone 12 and iPad Pro. The compact design is made possible by the M1 chip, which integrates the processor, graphics, memory, and more onto a single chip, with greatly improved power hĿflhqf|1#Dv#d#uhvxow/#erwk#wkh# logic board and cooling system are dramatically smaller than the previous generation’s. Apple says the overall volume of the computer is reduced by 50%. The new iMac joins the other M1– powered Mac models introduced in November, including MacBook Air,

Image rights: Apple.

Feed your mind. Feast your eyes.

the 13–inch MacBook Pro, and Mac mini, marking another step in the transition to Apple silicon. GREAT LOOKING The new iMac comes in a choice of up to seven vibrant colors, which are intense and saturated on the back, making a bold statement in the krph#ru#rĿfh/#exw#vxegxhg#rq#wkh# front so as to allow you to focus on your content, Apple says. The bezel around the display is narrower than on the previous model but silver instead of black, so we’ll reserve judgment on whether it’s a more immersive experience or less. For now, one 21.5–inch iMac model (with 2.3GHz Intel Core i5 processor) and the 27–inch model with 5K Retina display (and either Intel Core i5 or i7 processor) both remain available, but all the new M1–based iMacs have a 24–inch 4.5K

Retina display (actual diagonal screen size 23.5– inches, the small print reveals). The 218ppi screen packs 4,480x2,520 pixels, compared to 1,920x1,080 on its 21.5–inch predecessor and 5,120x2,880 on the 27–inch 5K model. It has P3 Wide Color gamut, Side–on, the iMac “practically disappears.” From the back, it dazzles. meaning over one billion colors, and 500 nits of also includes True Tone technology, brightness, promising vivid, brilliant which automatically adjusts the images. Apple says the screen has an color temperature to the ambient ģlqgxvwu|0ohdglqjĤ#dqwlĞuhľhfwlyh# light of your environment for a more coating for greater comfort and natural viewing experience. readability. Like the 27–inch 5K Like the other M1–based models model, the 24–inch M1 iMac display introduced in November, the new iMac takes performance to a new level. When combined with its kljkĞhĿflhqf|#xqlĽhg#phpru|# architecture and the 16–core Apple Neural Engine, the M1 iMac delivers up to 85% faster CPU performance

“Like the other M1–based Mac models, the new iMac takes performance to a new level, with CPU performance up to 85% faster than its precursor”

Image rights: Apple.

JUN 2021 9

>>> Start Feed your mind. Feast your eyes.

than its 21.5–inch precursor. As for graphics, it achieves up to 2x faster GPU performance for certain apps olnh#DĿqlw|#Skrwr#dqg#Skrwrvkrs/# and up to 50% faster than the most powerful discrete graphics in the fastest 21.5–inch iMac, enabling you to render edits in real time or add frpsoh{#Ľowhuv#wr#|rxu#skrwrv#lq#d# snap, Apple says. It will be possible wr#hglw#xs#wr#Ľyh#vwuhdpv#ri#7N# footage, or one stream of 8K footage, without dropping a frame in Final Cut Pro, Apple claims. Speaking of I/O, all the M1 iMacs have two Thunderbolt ports, with support for DisplayPort, Thunderbolt

3 (up to 40Gbps), USB 4 (up to 40Gbps), and USB 3.1 Gen 2 (up to 10Gbps). This makes it possible to connect a wide range of devices, including one external display with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz.

Alongside Bluetooth 5.0, 802.11ax Wi–Fi 6 delivers faster wireless performance, and there is even a 3.5mm headphone jack on the side. Wkh#lPdf#frqĽjxudwlrq#zlwk#;Ğfruh# GPU has two additional USB–C ports (up to 10Gbps) and also features a 1Gbps Ethernet port in the power adapter, allowing for a less cluttered desktop. (Gigabit Ethernet is a frqĽjxuhĞwrĞrughu#rswlrq#lq#wkh# base model.) The power connector attaches magnetically, with a color– matched woven cable. TRULY TOUCHING The Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse are now also color–matched, and Touch ID comes to iMac thanks to a wireless implementation on two of the three available versions of the Magic Keyboard. The 8–core GPU iMac comes with the Magic Mouse and the Magic Keyboard with Touch LG/#dqg#fdq#eh#frqĽjxuhg#zlwk#Pdjlf# Keyboard with Touch ID and Numeric Keypad. The Magic Trackpad is also an option. The 7–core GPU model comes with the Magic Mouse and the regular Magic Keyboard but can be frqĽjxuhg#zlwk#hlwkhu#ri#wkh#Wrxfk# ID equipped versions or Trackpad. The system uses a dedicated security component on the keyboard that communicates directly with Secure Enclave in M1, creating an encrypted channel to protect users’ Ľqjhusulqw#gdwd#iurp#hqg#wr#hqg1#Lq# addition to secure login or making a purchase with Apple Pay, Touch ID also works with Fast User Switching, vr#|rx#fdq#fkdqjh#wr#d#glļhuhqw#xvhu# surĽoh#zlwk#mxvw#wkh#suhvv#ri#d#Ľqjhu1

10 JUN 2021

Image rights: Apple.

Feed your mind. Feast your eyes.

“Touch ID comes to the Mac for the first time, with a security pad in the Magic Keyboard. You can even switch users with the press of a finger”

That’s not all. The cameras, mics and speakers are also improved. Apple says the new 1080p FaceTime HD camera is the best camera system hyhu#lq#d#Pdf1#Lw#rļhuv#grxeoh#wkh# resolution of its predecessor for higher–quality video calls, and a larger sensor captures more light, meaning better performance in low light. The image signal processor in the M1 chip greatly improves image quality, using computational video to analyze and enhance each pixel at more than a trillion operations per second. Advanced noise reduction algorithms deliver a new level of clarity, tone mapping adds enhanced dynamic range, and exposure and

Image rights: Apple.

zklwh#edodqfh#duh#dgmxvwhg#rq#wkh#ľ|# so you look just right in any light. To complement the camera, a studio–quality three–microphone array, which Apple describes as the best ever in a Mac, promises clearer calls and voice recordings. The mics are positioned to reduce feedback from the rest of the system, while directional beamforming enables wkhp#wr#ehwwhu#Ľowhu#rxw#edfnjurxqg# noise and focus on your voice. As a result, conversations are more natural and recordings crystal clear. As for output, the M1 iMac also has a new six–speaker sound system — you guessed it, the best ever in d#Pdf#ğ#iru#urrpĞĽoolqj#dxglr1#Wzr#

pairs of force–cancelling woofers create rich, deep bass while reducing unwanted vibrations, and each pair is balanced with a high–performance tweeter. The result is an immersive, detailed soundstage with support for spatial audio when playing video with Dolby Atmos. There are now thousands of Universal apps available that take full advantage of M1 and macOS Big Sur, Apple says. In addition, the M1 chip makes it possible to run your iPhone and iPad apps and games on your iMac, sync seamlessly with your lSkrqh#dqg#kdqg#rļ#wdvnv#vxfk#dv# email and messages, and even copy– and–paste between devices thanks to Universal Clipboard. In so many ways, not just in design, Apple’s computers and mobile devices continue to converge.

JUN 2021 11

>>> Start Feed your mind. Feast your eyes.

> iPad Pro Next–gen arrives with M1, Liquid Retina XDR, 5G, and Thunderbolt APPLE HAS BROUGHT the M1 chip to iPad Pro as well, delivering up to 50% faster CPU performance and 40% faster graphics performance than the previous generation. This promises console– quality, high frame rate graphics in games — and iPad Pro now also supports PlayStation and Xbox controllers, with haptics, for a great gaming experience. The 11–inch iPad Pro, starting at $799, has a 2,388x1,668–pixel, 264ppi Liquid Retina display with 600 nits peak brightness, ProMotion adaptive 120Hz refresh rate, True Tone, P3 Wide Color gamut, and ultra–low reﬂectivity. The 12.9–inch model, starting at $1,099, introduces a stunning 2,732x2,048–pixel Liquid Retina XDR display with 1,000 nits of full–screen brightness and 1,600 nits peak brightness (HDR), alongside all the display technologies of its sibling. It uses an array of over 10,000 mini–LEDs with

Both sizes of iPad Pro have Apple’s M1 chip, new cameras, 5G, and Thunderbolt.

2,596 full–array local dimming zones, each of which can be precisely adjusted to achieve extreme dynamic range with a one million to one contrast ratio. The Pro camera system is enhanced with a new 10MP Ultra Wide front camera

in addition to the 12MP Wide camera plus LiDAR. The system has some amazing capabilities including Smart HDR 3, cam– track AR, Face ID, and the cool new Center Stage feature, which works in FaceTime and other video call apps. Using face recognition and machine learning, it automatically pans to keep you centered in the frame as you move around; if others join or leave the call, it expands the view to include them or zooms in on you again. Storage starts at 128GB with options up to 2TB. The USB–C port now supports Thunderbolt 3 and USB 4 (both up to 40Gbps) for super–fast connection to displays (including Apple’s Pro Display XDR at full 6K resolution), external storage, docks, and more. There’s also Wi–Fi 6 and 5G wireless connectivity with the most 5G bands of any device of its kind, so it can get 5G in more places. There are ﬁve studio–quality mics for great sound recording when you shoot video or make music, and four–speaker audio delivers theater–like sound output with support for Dolby Atmos.

The mini–LED tech in the 12.9–inch Liquid Retina XDR display delivers a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio.

12 JUN 2021

Image rights: Apple.

Feed your mind. Feast your eyes.

AirTag Use Find My to track stuff and ﬁnd lost items APPLE HAS EXPANDED the Find My ecosystem with AirTag, a small (1.26– inch diameter, 0.39–ounce) disc you can locate with the Find My app or Siri, or it can play a sound to help you ﬁnd it. AirTag is made of stainless steel and is IP67 water– and dust– resistant. You can pop it in a bag or backpack, or attach it to items using various holders. It costs $29, or $99 for four, with free engraving if you buy direct. As with AirPods, setup is instant. AirTag emits an

encrypted BlueTooth signal detectable by devices in the Find My network. You (and only you) can then see it on the map in the Find My app. Lost an item? Put its AirTag in Lost Mode to get notiﬁed when it’s detected — plus, its ﬁnder can tap it with an iPhone or any NFC–capable device to go to a website to see any contact info you provide. AirTag has an Apple U1 chip inside, enabling Precision Finding on iPhone 11 and 12. This gives the exact distance and direction to a nearby AirTag, guiding you using sound, haptics, and visual feedback.

Apple TV 4K Now with 60fps HDR and all–new remote APPLE HAS ALSO announced the next generation of Apple TV 4K, built around the Apple A12 Bionic chip, boosting graphics performance, video decoding, and audio processing. Starting at $179 with 32GB storage or $199 with 64GB, Apple TV 4K now supports high frame rate HDR and Dolby Vision video, meaning that fast– moving action at 60fps plays more smoothly — great for sports streamed in high frame rate HDR. Plus, with high frame rate support in AirPlay, videos shot on iPhone 12 Pro can be displayed in full 60fps Dolby Vision. Apple TV 4K can use the light sensor in compatible iPhone models (those with Face ID) for color calibration, adjusting the video output to deliver truer colors and improved contrast.

Image rights: Apple.

The all–new Siri Remote features an innovative clickpad control with ﬁve– way navigation for greater accuracy and easier searching, plus an intuitive circular gesture that turns it into a jog control. It has a new button to control a TV’s power and another for mute, making it “the only remote you need.”

Podcasts revamped APPLE HAS UNVEILED a redesigned Podcasts app, podcast channels, and Apple Podcasts Subscriptions, a global marketplace for listeners to discover premium subscriptions offered by their favorite creators alongside the millions of free shows available. Premium subscriptions, available in more than 170 countries from both independent voices and leading brands, include a variety of benefits curated by creators, such as ad–free listening, extra content, and early or exclusive access to new series. Channels are groups of shows curated by creators. Just as they can with shows, listeners can browse free channels, making it easy to find more shows from their favorite creators, as well as paid channels and channels that provide additional benefits for subscribers. With iOS 14.5, a redesigned Apple Podcasts app features an enhanced Search tab with quick access to Top Charts and categories. New pages for every show and episode make it easier to follow, listen, and share. A new Smart Play button helps automatically start episodic shows from the latest episode or serialized shows from the beginning of each series. Listeners can also now save individual episodes, which are downloaded for offline playback, making it easy to bookmark podcasts to enjoy later from Library.

JUN 2021 13

>>> Start Feed your mind. Feast your eyes.

> THE SHIFT MATT BOLTON is reassessing the line between a hidden feature and a “hack” when it comes to what the iPhone can do

EVERAL DAYS AGO I saw essentially the same “news” story pop up on Google from wzr#glļhuhqw#qdwlrqdo# newspapers: it was a “hack” for using your iPhone to store your receipts and other important documents. If you’ve been reading Mac|Life for a while, you might have the same reaction I did: why would you need a hack for that when you can just do it in the Notes app? And it turns out that’s what the hack was — to use the feature in the Notes app that’s designed exactly for this purpose. This got me thinking about two things: 1) Apple’s impossible task

don’t want to feel like they have to learn it a second wlph1#Lwġv#d#elw#glļhuhqw#wr# the old OS X updates back in the day, where a new version would come out and you’d go wr#wkh#hļruw#ri#lqvwdoolqj#lw/# and make a point of checking out what’s new afterwards. iPhone updates just arrive on your phone overnight, so unless you’re in the small percentage of people who follow what exciting new features are coming (ie, us) and track when the update will arrive, every screen that appears on your phone to say “Hey, here’s a new feature!” is like a pop–up ad blocking your way rather than a helpful hint. You tap to dismiss it at the time because you’ve got something to do at that moment… and then you’ve never learned the new feature. And it’s not like Apple should keep popping it up — that’d be annoying. So you end up, years after Apple included it, learning that there’s a hack to make your Notes app store documents in a useful way. So what makes something a hack? I’d describe a hack as

P EO P L E D O N ’ T WA N T TO F E E L L I K E T H EY H AV E TO L E A R N TO U S E T H E I R P H O N E A S ECO N D T I M E to let people know what features iOS has (especially after an update) without annoying people by giving them homework every time; and 2) what it really means for something to be a “hack” to one person or a normal feature to another. Apple’s problem is that, having learned to use their phone, people

Of course, I’m much too scared of Terminal to do anything that can really be considered a hack anyway. making your computer do something it wasn’t intended to do. When I think of hacks, I think of using Terminal to get something working in a setting in a way you can’t normally specify in macOS, or using Automator to create some Uxeh#JrogehujĞhvtxh#zrunľrz#wr# save me time. But… these are also just features built into the operating system, aren’t they? Features I didn’t know a Mac could do until I found an article telling me how to make it do them. Are they any more unintended and secret than an option in the Notes app that’s just a vague icon hidden in a nav somewhere? A more accurate description of a hack might be “making your computer do something you didn’t know it was intended to do.” One person’s hack is just another person’s documented feature, I suppose.

>>> Matt is the AV and smart home editor of Future’s ﬂagship technology website T3 and has been charting changes at Apple since his student days. He’s skeptical of tech industry hyperbole, but still gets warm and fuzzy on hearing “one more thing.”

14 JUN 2021

Image rights: Apple.

SPOTLIGHT UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL WITH…

iPhone 6 (2014) The eighth–generation iPhone was applauded for its improved battery life and faster chipset, but derided when its lack of chassis rigidity lead to “Bendgate”

>>> Start The Gear We’re Lusting After

CRAVE THE GEAR WE’RE LUSTING AFTER

DJI FPV dji.com $1,299 >>> All it takes is a little move to turn a camera drone from a serene filming experience into a full–on thrill ride of a flyer; placing the camera on its nose makes DJI’s first–person–view drone the latter. Of course, the idea is you’ll be using the FPV to make a big move rather than a little one, so it’s a camera made to be viewed through goggles at speed: an 150–degree 4K viewpoint — broadcast at HD resolutions back to DJI’s own face setup at up to 120Hz — gives you a slick experience, essential in a world where low frame rates can cause motion sickness. Every early report says it’s an absolute blast to fly, and while we don’t see DJI troubling the dedicated racing drone market any time soon, this seems to be the best way for a beginner to get into the world of face–first flying.

Kasa Smart Video Doorbell kasasmart.com £TBC >>> Kasa’s home security products all have two things in common — they’re cheap and they work well. The Smart Video Doorbell, then, has the chance to be really disruptive in the market. It stores locally on a microSD card or can send footage to the cloud, sports a full 2K sensor capturing footage in 1080p, has built–in face recognition, two–way audio, a plug–in chime released alongside it, and

16 JUN 2021

everything else you’d expect from a smart doorbell. And all at what will almost certainly be a lower price than its rivals. We say “almost certainly” because parent company TP–Link has so far said little. We’re not even sure when the Smart Video Doorbell will be out, but if previous trends hold true look out for an even cheaper specced–down version potentially landing under the TP–Link brand.

Image rights from top: Dji, Kasa.

Nomadplug nomadplug.com $76.44 >>> The Nomadplug has been on our gadget radar since it was ﬁrst Kickstarted in 2018, but it’s only now coming to the market. A travel adapter that (at last!) doesn’t look like it was designed and manufactured in the 1970s, the Nomadplug is modular, colorful, and clever, and suitable to just toss in your bag. You can chop and change to convert any kind of plug into any other, and the socket section cleverly folds down so you won’t be creating a tripping hazard if it’s plugged into the wall. It also includes a matching 18W USB–C charger, itself adaptable to ﬁt international plugs, so you can (in theory) cut down on the number of devices in your hand luggage.

Sonos Roam sonos.com $169 >>> Would it be fair to say that Sonos has been teasing the Roam for some time? Hanging it over our heads, even? The excellent Sonos Move took the company’s multi–room high–ﬁdelity smarts around the house, but it retained a slight note of preciousness. You wouldn’t take the Move in the shower. The Roam, though? It’s cheaper, six–times smaller, seven–times

lighter, and with IP67 water– and dust– prooﬁng it’s a lot more rugged. When it’s out of Wi–Fi range you can connect via Bluetooth; when it’s in it, the Roam acts like any other speaker in your Sonos set up. It even totes the Auto Trueplay calibration tech from the Move, automatically adjusting itself to its environment. Headphones next, Sonos?

Pixels pixels-dice.com From around $40 >>> Tabletop gaming has taken a serious knock over the past year, and so many sets of polyhedral dice remain unrolled. But what if there was a way to smarten those platonic solids up, get them connected to the world? That, to us, is the real selling point of the Pixels. They can have all the ﬂashing lights they like, and indeed they do pack individual RGB LEDs

Image rights from top: Nomadplug, Sonos, Pixels.

that can glow through translucent dice or shine only through the numbers on the opaque versions, but it’s their connectivity that really sells them. Roll, and your phone will know exactly what you’ve rolled; in turn, that means your gaming friends playing on services like Roll20 will know about it — and they’ll know you haven’t been fudging any rolls.

JUN 2021 17

>>> Feature

BIG SUR SECRETS Hidden tips, tricks, and shortcuts revealed! WRITTEN BY KENNY HEMPHILL

18 JUN 2021

85 Big Sur secrets

Finder shortcuts

IG SUR HAS been with us for a while now, but even if you xsjudghg#rq#wkh#Ľuvw#gd|# available it’s likely you’re not yet making full use of all its features and additions. And, let’s face it, there are plenty. From the redesigned interface to the new Control Center and beefed up Messages and Maps apps, there’s plenty to get to grips with. And that’s before we get on to the new privacy features in Safari and the App Store. Don’t worry, though, we’ve got you covered. In this feature, we’ll get beneath the surface of macOS Big Sur and reveal the tips and tricks to help you get the most from it. We’ll

Image rights: Apple.

sidestep the more obvious and instead reveal the things you may have missed. And we’ll cover apps like Photos, Music, and iMovie, as well as the OS itself. Whether you’re interested in downloading HD movies in Apple TV or creating stations in Podcasts, it’s all covered over the next 13 pages. By the end, you’ll be armed with dozens of ways to customize Big Sur and get it working exactly the way you want it to, including ironing out wrinkles and smoothing irritations that may have crept in with the new version. And you’ll be an expert in using features that you didn’t even realize existed.

> > >

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Open a new Finder window + Create a new Finder folder + Create a folder with the current selection + Show or hide Finder’s preview pane + Go to Applications + Go to AirDrop + Go to iCloud Drive + Go to Downloads – + Switch Finder views Duplicate the selected item + Add selection to the Sidebar + Create an alias Launch App Switcher/go to the next app + In App Switcher, go to the previous app Go to the next window in an app + Hide or show the Dock + Use Group or Stacks in Finder + Show Inspector Minimize the current window + Minimize all Finder windows Open Finder preferences + Force Quit + Lock the screen + Log out [user]

JUN 2021 19

>>> Feature

Finder and System Preferences Finder may look a little unfamiliar but you can tweak it to your liking THE FINDER HAS had a serious overhaul in Big Sur. From the new– look windows with full–height sidebars to the new rounded Dock and the return of shaded icons, there’s plenty to take in visually. However, it’s the addition of Control Fhqwhu#dqg#fkdqjhv#wr#QrwlĽfdwlrq# Fhqwhu#wkdw#duh#wkh#prvw#vljqlĽfdqw1# Here’s how to adjust them.

Manage Control Center items

Some items can be either in the menu bar or in Control Center, or both. Launch System Preferences from the Apple menu and choose Dock & Menu Bar. Scroll through the list under Control Center, and click each one in turn. For those you want to add to the menu bar, check the “Show in Menu Bar” box. Select “when active” or “always.” There’s an item here that’s new in Big Sur: Now Playing. It’s similar to wkh#QrwlĽfdwlrq#Fhqwhu#zlgjhw#dqg# displays the name of media currently playing on your Mac, along with the app that’s playing it and controls for

You can conﬁgure Control Center to include elements you want, and add items to the menu bar. playing/pausing and skipping. You can choose whether it sits in Control Center or in the menu bar and whether it’s displayed permanently or only when there is something playing. To add modules to Control Center that aren’t currently there, scroll to Other Modules and choose which to add to Control Center.

Add or remove items from the menu bar

Not everything in the menu bar is accessible from Control Center. Under “Menu Bar only,” you can choose whether to display Spotlight, Siri, or Time Machine, and specify how you want the clock to appear.

Drag items from Control Center to the menu bar

If going to System Preferences is too much hassle just to add an item to the menu bar, you can click on Control Center, then click on the item you want and drag it to the menu bar. To remove an item from the menu bar, just short–drag it in Control Center.

Hide the menu bar

In previous versions of macOS, you chose whether to automatically show and hide the menu bar in the General pane in System Preferences. It’s now in the Dock & Menu bar section. Go to System Preferences

Gestures and shortcuts There aren’t any new system–wide keyboard shortcuts or gestures in Big Sur, but the Reminders app gets a few new ones. There are now keyboard shortcuts for switching between lists and for changing due dates to, say, today, tomorrow, or next weekend. To conﬁgure system–wide shortcuts, go to System Preferences > Keyboard

20 JUN 2021

> Shortcuts. Check or uncheck the box next to a shortcut to switch it on or off. Click on the shortcut itself to edit it. To manage gestures, use the Trackpad or Keyboard pane in System Preferences, depending on which you use with your Mac. Check and uncheck gestures and use drop–down menus to select how they are performed.

Conﬁgure trackpad and mouse gestures in System Prefs (there are no new ones in Big Sur.)

Image rights: Apple.

85 Big Sur secrets

> Dock & Menu Bar, scroll to Menu Bar, and check the box.

Check up on your battery usage

The new Battery System Preferences pane replaces Energy Saver. Click on it in System Preferences and you’ll odqg#rq#wkh#Ľuvw#vhfwlrq/#Edwwhu|# Usage, which shows a graph of how your battery has performed over the last 24 hours or 10 days. The Battery pane is also now home to the options that were available in Energy Saver, like how and when to sleep, whether to optimize charging, and tools for scheduling startup or wake.

Choose whether your Mac plays the startup chime Apple removed the startup chime in 2016 and most Macs released since then have started up silently. Now, it’s back, but you’re in control of whether it plays or not. Go to System Preferences > Sound and choose the Vrxqg#Hļhfwv#wde1#Fkhfn#wkh#er{# next to “Play sound on startup.”

Speak typing feedback

One of Big Sur’s new accessibility features allows you to have your

Control Center and Notifications Control Center is new in Big Sur and works similarly to iOS. It groups together settings like display and keyboard brightness, volume, Wi–Fi, and Bluetooth. (You can still choose to have some of those settings in the menu bar.) Notification Center now combines notifications and the widgets that previously appeared in the Today tab. Widgets are grouped by app and nested. So if, for example, you have multiple Calendar notifications, you’ll see a stack. Click on it and all the notifications will be displayed. Notifications are now more interactive, so you can accomplish some tasks without opening the application. And you can add and remove widgets from third–party apps.

Mac speak what you type as you’re typing it. It’s tucked away in a new section of System Preferences’ Accessibility pane called Spoken Content. Check the box next to “Speak typing feedback” to enable the function. This section also contains the options that were previously to be found in the Speech section of Accessibility.

Click on Notiﬁcation Center, scroll to the bottom, and choose Edit Widgets. Click the “–” in the corner of any widget to remove it. Widgets are grouped by app and the apps with available widgets are listed on the left of the screen. Click on an app name to see its widgets, choose a widget and its size, then hover over the widget and click the “+” in the top– left corner to add it.

Some apps offer multiple widgets for Notiﬁcation Center — pick what suits best.

Manage your Notiﬁcations

Zkhq#QrwlĽfdwlrqv#dsshdu#lq#Elj# Sur, many of them have a drop– down arrow that’s located in the bottom–right corner. Simply click on this arrow to see the options that are available, such as accept or decline calendar invitations, or reply to emails.

HOW TO Customize your desktop

CHANGE PICTURE Big Sur comes with 40 new desktop wallpapers, including different phases as they change during the day. To choose one, go to System Preferences > Desktop & Screen Saver > Desktop Pictures and make your selection.

Image rights: Apple.

ADD AN ACCENT COLOR To change the color of buttons and sidebar glyphs in apps, go to System Preferences > General and choose a color from the Accent menu. Multicolor leaves apps at the developer’s default, other colors impose your choice.

CHANGE THE SIDEBAR Big Sur’s full–height sidebars in windows allow for more or bigger icons. To add more, go to Finder > Prefs > Sidebar. To make them bigger, it’s System Prefs > General > Sidebar icon size and small, medium or large.

JUN 2021 21

>>> Feature

Photos Photos now allows you to edit videos, add new effects, and much more PHOTOS IN BIG Sur received a few handy improvements. You can now furs#ylghrv/#dqg#dgg#Ľowhuv#dqg# adjustments to them. There’s a new Yleudqfh#hļhfw#dqg#|rx#fdq#dgmxvw# the intensity of Portrait Lighting hļhfwv1#Wkh#Uhwrxfk#wrro#kdv#dovr# been improved, along with the Memories feature. Here are a few tricks to get the most from Photos.

The Info window allows you to add a caption to a photo, as well as a title, keywords, and location.

Sort thumbnails in albums

This only works for albums you have created. Open the album, Ctrl–click on the photo you want as the new cover, and pick “Make key photo.”

In any album, click on View in the menu bar, choose Sort, and pick an option. Alternatively, you can click and drag any photo to any position in the album view. Adjust the size of thumbnails using the slider above the album title.

Change the key photo for an album

Add a caption

You can now add captions to photos, and keywords and location info. Ctrl–click on a photo and pick “Get information” or select a photo and press the “i” in the toolbar. You’ll see text boxes where you can add a title, caption, and keywords. You can also start typing a location in the Location box to see a list of options. Pick one to see it on the map.

Store your albums in a folder

Li#|rx#kdyh#d#orw#ri#doexpv/#Ľqglqj# the one you want can be tricky. To make it easier, group albums in a folder. You could have one for, say, family holidays, and one for day trips. Click on the File menu and choose New Folder. Give it a name and drag it anywhere in the list of albums. To add an album, just

click on it, and drag and drop it on to the folder.

Move your Photos Library

If you’re running short of space on your boot drive, you can move your Photos library to an external drive. Frs|#|rxu#Skrwrv#oleudu|#Ľoh#iurp# your Pictures folder to the external drive. Hold down the Opt key and launch Photos. In the window that opens, choose Other Library and navigate to the version on the external drive. Click Open. If you get a message telling you that you need to download items from iCloud, click “delete incomplete items.” In Photos, choose Photos > Preferences > General and choose “Use as System Library.”

How to use Photos extensions Extensions in Photos allows you to access many of the editing features in apps such as Pixelmator, Afﬁnity Photo, and Luminar without leaving the Photos app. There’s even a category on the App Store that lists the apps that have Photos extensions. To see that, double–click any photo then choose Edit from the top–right

22 JUN 2021

corner of the window. Click on the More button (…) and choose App Store. In that menu you’ll also see an option called Manage. Click that and you’ll be taken to the Extensions pane in System Preferences, from where you can enable extensions for those apps that support them. Once enabled, the apps appear in the Edit menu.

With Extensions you can use some features of third–party apps without launching the app.

Image rights: Apple.

85 Big Sur secrets

What about iMovie? Now that Photos allows you to edit videos, and Big Sur expands that to allow cropping and ﬁlters, you might be wondering why you should bother with iMovie. But iMovie allows you to do a great deal more than just crop, trim, and add ﬁlters. For example, iMovie has 29 themes that make it really easy to turn your photos and movies into Hollywood–style trailers. It also allows you to add transitions and fades to your videos, as well as apply picture–in–picture, green screen effects, and speed up or slow down clips. iMovie also allows you to apply

image stabilization to shaky clips, add Ken Burns–style effects to still images, adjust the color, and apply lots of different audio and video effects to clips. iMovie is well integrated with Photos, so it’s easy to pull in images and video iMovie works brilliantly with Photos, so it’s easy to stitch together your stills and clips into a great video. clips from your Photos library, and to share them with iOS versions of iMovie. iMovie has been tool for anyone who needs to do more around on the Mac for many years than just trim clips and add ﬁlters, but and had its ups and downs, but it doesn’t need a professional tool like remains a very capable video–editing Final Cut Pro.

HOW TO Create a shared photo album

CREATE THE ALBUM In the sidebar in Photos, hover over Shared Albums and click the “+” next to it. Give the album a title and type the names — if they are in your Contacts — or email addresses of people you want to share with. Click Create.

INVITE MORE PEOPLE To invite more people after creating an album, choose the album under Shared Albums and click the People icon in the toolbar. Click “+” next to Invite People and type the name or email address of the people you want to invite.

ADD PHOTOS Choose a photo in Photos library and press the Share button in the toolbar. Choose Shared Album then pick the album you want to share the photo to. To add photos from within a shared album, select “Add photos and videos.”

Image rights: Apple.

ALLOW OTHERS TO SHARE If you want to allow those you have shared the album with to share their pics, go to the album and press the People button. Check “Subscribers can post.” You can only do this in albums you created, not those shared with you.

SHARED ALBUM WEB PAGE If you want to share an album with people not on iCloud, create a web page. Click the people tab in the album view and choose Public Website. This creates a link on icloud.com that anyone can use when you share it with them.

DELETE ALBUM PHOTOS In the album, choose any photo, whether you added it or not — if you created the album you can delete any photo. Press the delete key. If the photo is one you added, it will remain in your Photos library.

JUN 2021 23

>>> Feature

Safari, Mail, and Messages Safari has new customization and privacy features SAFARI AND MESSAGES have had big updates in Big Sur, and much of the focus is on privacy. Safari’s new Sulydf|#Uhsruw#ghwdlov#doo#wkh#furvvĞ site trackers it’s blocked over the last 30 days and displays the privacy practices for websites you visit. You fdq#hyhq#dgg#wkh#Sulydf|#Uhsruw#wr# your newly customizable start page. Safari now also warns you if any of your saved passwords have been involved in a data breach and helps you change them. It’s faster and pruh#srzhu#hĿflhqw#dqg#glvsod|v# favicons on open tabs, making it easier to identify them. Mail didn’t get a big update this time around, exw#lw#glg#ehqhĽw#iurp#wkh#RVĞzlgh# interface enhancements like full– height sidebars and new icons.

Import data from Chrome or Firefox

You can now import passwords, bookmarks, and history directly

You can now customize the start page in Safari with your own background and content elements. from Chrome or Firefox. Click on the File menu in Safari and choose “Import from.” Choose either Chrome or Firefox. Select the items that you want to import and then click Import.

to them — that indicates there is an issue with the password. Select an entry that has a yellow triangle and press Details at the bottom of wkh#zlqgrz1#Uhdg#wkh#dgylfh#lq#wkh# window that opens.

Check password security

Click on the Safari menu and choose Preferences. Select the Passwords tab and authenticate. Look for entries with a yellow triangle next

Customize your start page

Open a new tab in Safari. Click the settings icon at the bottom–right of the page. Check the box next to the elements you want to include. Scroll

HOW TO Send a message with Photos, Effects, or GIFs

FIND A GIF TO SEND

Click the new message button or click on a message thread in the sidebar. Type your message in the box, then click the “A” to display the options. Choose “#images.” Scroll through the GIFs to find the one you want.

24 JUN 2021

GIF WITH A MESSAGE

You can also use the search box to find images. When you’ve found the one you want, click on it to add it to your message. Press send to send the message, or press the “X” in the corner of the GIF to remove it.

IMAGE WITH EFFECTS

Effects play an animation over the whole screen of an iOS device or window in macOS. Create a new message and this time, when you press “A,” choose Message Effects. Choose an effect and press Send.

Image rights: Apple.

85 Big Sur secrets

Messages Messages is finally on a par with its iOS counterpart, and with other messaging apps on the Mac. You can now pin up to nine messages to the top of the messages list, reply inline to specific messages in a group conversation, “mention” participants in a group conversation, and choose its photo. GIFs and Memoji stickers come to the Mac and you can also create and edit Memojis in Big Sur Messages. When you first begin a conversation

with someone new, you can choose whether to share your name and photo, or you can use a Memoji image or monogram instead. If you’re a fan of message effects in iOS, Messages in Big Sur is now much more fun to use, with plenty of iOS–inspired features at your fingertips. like fireworks and balloons, you’ll be pleased to see those are now in the Mac version too. And if like the new search feature. It you use Messages a lot and often find organizes results into links and yourself trawling through them looking images, and makes it much easier for a specific message or photo, you’ll to find what you’re looking for.

across the images at the bottom and click on one to select it, or click “+” and navigate to an image on your Mac you want to use and select it.

mouse pointer and a thumbnail preview will appear.

Select a message in your inbox that comes from the list you want to unsubscribe from. Look under the header for a message that says “This message is from a mailing list.” To the right of that, click Unsubscribe.

Translate a web page

Navigate to the web page you want to translate. Look for the speech bubbles icon to the right of the address bar. Click on it and choose “Translate to English” or Preferred Languages.

Preview a tab

You can now preview the contents of a tab without opening it. Just hover over the tab with the

MESSAGE WITH A PHOTO

Follow the steps for sending a GIF, but choose Photos instead of “#images.” Or find the photo you want on your Mac and drag it on to the message window. You can add multiple images. Press Send when you’re done.

Image rights: Apple.

Unsubscribe from a mailing list in Mail

and conceals the email address. To see a sender’s email address, hover over the sender and then click on the drop–down arrow that appears.

Organize messages in Smart Mailboxes

Phishing emails often look genuine because the message header shows what looks like a legitimate name

Click on the Mailbox menu and choose New Smart Mailbox. Name it and select items from the menus to fuhdwh#wkh#Ľuvw#frqglwlrq#iru#sxwwlqj# a message in the mailbox. To add more conditions, click “+” and specify the next condition. Pick “all” or “any” to set whether all or only one of the conditions has to be met iru#d#phvvdjh#wr#eh#Ľohg#khuh1#

Check a sender’s email address

SEND A MEMOJI

In a new message, click on the “A” and choose Memoji stickers. To send an existing sticker, click on it and press Send. To create a new one, click on the More (…) button and choose New Memoji to open the Memoji creator.

CREATE A MEMOJI

Go through the options for skin, hair, accessories, and the rest to create your Memoji. When you’ve chosen all the options you want, press Done to create the stickers. You can now add a sticker to your message.

JUN 2021 25

>>> Feature

Maps Start planning a trip on your Mac and then continue on your mobile device MAPS MAY NOT be as useful on the Mac as it is on a mobile device, but there’s still plenty you can do with it, such as plan journeys and explore iduĞrļ#flwlhv1#Elj#Vxu#dggv#vhyhudo# new features to the Mac version, the prvw#vljqlĽfdqw#ri#zklfk#lv#Jxlghv1# Currently only available for London in the UK, curated Guides enable you to discover the best places to visit, eat, and explore. They update automatically as other users add places and you can create your own. Guides will expand to more cities during 2021. Big Sur also sees Maps gain 3D Look Around, electric vehicle charging points, cycling routes, and indoor maps. Again, some of these features are limited to a small number of cities worldwide, but will be expanded.

View guides from your favorite publishers

Launch maps then click in the search bar. You’ll see a list of Editors’ Picks in the sidebar, followed by a list of publishers. Scroll through the list of publishers and choose one. Click on a guide to read more about the area.

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The new guides in Maps allow you to get the most out of a trip. There are lots of curated guides, and you can create your own.

Create a new guide

In the toolbar, click the “+” and choose Create New Guide. Give the guide a name, then click Change Key Photo. To add a place to a guide, search for it or navigate to it on the map in the main window. Click its marker on the map, then click the “+” under its name in the window that opens. Choose the guide you want to add it to. You can also share the location from here, or click the more button to add more options. To share a guide once you’ve created it, Ctrl–click on it in the sidebar.

Build your own library of guides

Look around a city

Zkhq#|rx#Ľqg#d#jxlgh#|rx#olnh/#folfn# Add to My Guides to add it to the sidebar. Click the More button at the top–right to share the guide using Mail, Messages, or a share extension. Or send it directly to your iPhone or iPad.

Click the Map icon in the toolbar and choose Default. Navigate to a street or location. If there is a Look Around available for that

Image rights: Apple.

85 Big Sur secrets

The Flyover Tour option will give you a bird’s eye view of a city.

location, the binoculars in the toolbar will be black, if not, they will be grayed out. It they’re black, click on them to swoop down on to the street. Click on the street ahead of you to move forward or xvh#wzrĞĽqjhuhg#jhvwxuhv#rq#|rxu# trackpad (click and drag with a mouse) to turn around.

Fly over a city

Search for a city that has d#ľ|ryhu#dydlodeoh/#vxfk#dv#Vdq# Francisco. Select it in the search results and in the window that

Image rights: Apple.

opens, choose Flyover Tour. Sit back and watch the tour, and when |rxġuh#Ľqlvkhg#folfn#wkh#ģ[Ĥ#lq#wkh# bar at the bottom of the window.

Set your travel preferences

Simply choose Maps > Preferences A#Urxwh#Sodqqhu1#Iurp#khuh#|rx#fdq# set your preferred travel method (driving, walking, public transport) for directions, tell Maps whether you want to avoid toll roads, and whether you would rather avoid hilly routes when cycling.

Don’t like imperial? Go metric

By default, distances in Maps in the UK and United States are shown in miles. However, if you prefer metric measurements, all you have to do is go to Maps > Preferences > General. From there, choose Kilometers from the Distance Units menu. You can also choose to display large–sized labels from this menu, as well as wxuq#rļ#wkh#zhdwkhu#iruhfdvw#dqg# air quality information if you don’t want to see it.

JUN 2021 27

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Music, Apple TV, Podcasts, & Books It was evolution rather than revolution for these entertainment apps in Big Sur ONE OF CATALINA’S biggest changes was the end of iTunes and its replacement with separate apps, Music, TV, and Podcasts. It’s no surprise, then, that these apps don’t get huge updates in Big Sur. The biggest change in Music is the replacement of For You with Listen Now. Similar to its predecessor, and like the iOS version, Listen Now suggests music, artists, and interviews it thinks you might like based on your listening habits. Search has been improved, too, with qhz#Ľowhuv1#Olvwhq#Qrz#dovr#srsv#xs# in the Podcasts app, making it easier wr#Ľqg#wkh#qh{w#hslvrgh#ri#srgfdvwv1#

Go social

Dssoh#Pxvlf#doorzv#|rx#wr#Ľqg#rxw# what friends are listening to and share what you listen to with them. Click on Listen Now, then on the ID surĽoh#lfrq1#Folfn#rq#wkh#Fdphud# lfrq#wr#fkrrvh#d#surĽoh#slfwxuh/#dqg# type in the box next to “username” to create a name. Press Continue to

Find Contacts, to see who among your friends is using Apple Music. Scroll through the list of Contacts and press Follow next to those you want to add. You can also invite any who aren’t currently using the feature. Click Next and choose the playlists you want to share, then follow the instructions on screen.

Help Music get a better idea of what you like to listen to Listen Now attempts to work out what you like, but you can give it a hand. When you hear a track that you like, or dislike, click on the More button next to the song title and choose Like or Dislike.

Check and manage what third–party services access Music If you have an Amazon Echo, you will hopefully already know that you can play Apple Music directly from the Echo just by asking Alexa. To see

Content caching If you have more than one Mac or iOS device, you can use a service called Content Caching to reduce the amount of data you download over the internet and speed up OS updates and the retrieval of other data. With Content Caching set up, whenever a Mac or iOS device on the network downloads an update, the update is stored on a Mac on the network. The next time a device requests the update, it’s delivered from the cache, rather than being downloaded again. And it’s not just OS updates. Content Caching supports apps, app data such as GarageBand songs, Books, and iCloud data like photos and documents. To switch it on, go to System Prefs > Sharing, and check the box next to Content Caching. You can choose to cache all data, just apps and updates, or just iCloud data. Select Options to specify a limit for the amount of disk space it uses. You’ll need to restart devices so they can use Content Caching.

Content caching allows you to download updates and app data once and share it over a local network. Listen Now replaces For You and suggests music, artists, and interviews based on your listening habits.

28 JUN 2021

Image rights: Apple.

85 Big Sur secrets

You can choose whether to stream TV shows and movies in the highest available quality or limit bandwidth usage. which devices and services have access to your Music account, click on Account then “Apps with Access…” In the window that opens |rx#fdq#uhyrnh#dffhvv#wr#vshflĽf# services if you choose.

fkrrvh#wkh#irupdw#dqg#elwudwh#ri#Ľohv# that you import.

Manage family access

If you pay for the Family tier of Apple One, family members can access Apple Music. To manage who has access, click on Account, and choose Manage Family… You’ll be taken to the Family Sharing section of System Prefs, where you can then add and remove family members.

Specify the quality of music you import

Unfortunately, you can’t do anything about the quality of audio you stream from Apple, but you can choose the quality of music you import from your own collection. Go to Music > Preferences > Files and press Import Settings. From here you can

In Books, you can makes notes in the margins and sync them across devices.

Image rights: Apple.

Podcasts allows you to create your own stations and pupate them with favorite podcasts.

Create a Smart playlist in the TV app

The TV app allows you to create playlists, just like Music. They are displayed in the sidebar in the Library tab. You can also create Smart playlists, where movies and TV shows in your Library are added automatically if they meet the criteria you specify, such as the name of the director or the year they were made. Click on File > New > Smart Playlist… Choose an option iurp#wkh#Ľuvw#gursĞgrzq#phqx# and set the parameters. Click the “+” to add additional criteria. Check the box next to Live Updating if you want it to update automatically.

Set TV download and streaming options

The TV app allows you to limit the data you use while streaming or downloading TV programs or movies. Go to TV > Prefs > Playback. From the Streaming menu, choose High Quality to stream the highest available quality, or Data Saver to limit streaming to 500MB/hour. From the Download options, choose High Quality or Fast Downloads if you only want to watch the download on your Mac, or Most Compatible HD

or Most Compatible SD if you want to transfer the downloads to another device such as an iPhone.

Create a Podcasts station

Stations enable you to group podcasts you subscribe to. One way would be to group all the movie podcasts, or all the food podcasts. You must subscribe to a podcast in Podcasts to add it to a station. In Podcasts, go to File > New Station (or press Cmd+N). Give the station a name and choose the order you want to play episodes and whether to group them by podcast. At the bottom of the window, under Podcasts, click on the arrow next to Choose Podcasts. Check the box to the right of the podcasts you want to add. Click OK, then go ahead and click OK again.

Make notes in Books

Books didn’t get an upgrade in Big Sur and, sadly, you still can’t set reading goals, as you can in iOS. But you can make notes on books. When you’re reading a book on your Mac and there’s a passage you want to make notes on, select it. In the menu, pick a color for the highlight, or choose to underline it in red. The passage appears in the sidebar with a notes section below. Type your note.

JUN 2021 29

>>> Feature

Other Big Sur tips and tricks There are even more ways to get the most from Big Sur WE’VE COVERED TIPS and tricks for the major apps that are included with Big Sur, along with those associated with the biggest improvements and changes in the OS. However, there are lots more smaller changes and much more you can do to tune up macOS Big Sur and get it working exactly the way you want it to.

Voice Memos allows you to create folders and add memos to them, as well as enhance memos.

Clean up Voice Memos

Voice Memos in macOS has been brought into line with the iOS versions, and that means you can now “enhance” memos to reduce background noise. Choose the memo you want to enhance in the list of memos and press Edit. Click on the Enhance button (it looks like a magic wand). Undo the enhancement by clicking the icon again.

Use folders with Voice Memos

You can now organize memos in folders. Click the sidebar button

at the top–left of the window to display the sidebar. Press the folder icon at the bottom of the sidebar. Give the folder a name and press Save. You can now drag memos on to the folder.

Delegate reminders

you want to share it. Once it’s shared, when you create a new reminder, click the People icon between the location and deadline buttons and choose who you want to delegate the reminder to. You can also Ctrl-click a reminder after you have created it and choose “Assign to.”

You can now delegate, or “assign” in Apple terminology, reminders to other people. This can only be done for reminders created in a list that you share with others. To share a list, click on it and then click the People icon and choose how

You can ask Siri for a report card on air quality that will display details of things like carbon monoxide, ozone, and particulates

you discuss in Messages. Siri can also change system settings, such as turning Wi–Fi on and off, or switching on Do Not Disturb. You can search within apps, say for notes or photos, and you can launch apps using Siri, too. Additionally, instead of speaking to your Mac to use Siri you can type questions. Go to System Preferences > Accessibility > Siri and check the box next to “Enable type to Siri.”

Siri is now better at searching the web and as a result can answer a wider range of questions.

Check for pollution

If in doubt, ask Siri The biggest change to Siri in Big Sur is that it can now answer a wider range of questions by searching the web. In addition, Siri in Big Sur can tell you about your Mac’s system, so you can ask “How fast is this Mac?” It can also search for ﬁles and you can ask follow– up questions. Siri can also make suggestions to you based on how you use your Mac, such as prompt you to create a calendar event for something

30 JUN 2021

Image rights: Apple.

85 Big Sur secrets

The App Store now displays information about the data that apps collect on you. in the atmosphere locally. Just ask “What’s the air quality?” and Siri will tell you the headline reading and display the details on screen.

You can change the background color of notes to make them easier to read.

Use Quick Styles in Notes

Quick Styles enables you to format text without navigating several menus. You can apply a style such as heading, sub–heading, or bulleted list; or make text bold, italic, underlined, or struck–through. In any note, click in the main note window and select the text you want to style. Press the “Aa” button in the toolbar and choose a style.

Change note to light background

If you’re using Notes in Dark Mode, you can change the background of any note to white to make it easier to see its content. When your Mac is in Dark Mode, Ctrl–click in the body and choose “Show note with Light Background.”

Pinned messages give more surplqhqfh#wr#surĽoh#slfv/#vr#lwġv# appropriate that you can now choose your own in Messages. Click on Messages and Choose Preferences A#Jhqhudo1#Kryhu#ryhu#wkh#surĽoh# pic and choose edit. Click on the photos icon to choose a photo, the emoji to choose an emoji, or the pencil to use your initials. Or, scroll down to choose a Memoji or one of the stock icons.

Image rights: Apple.

Pin conversations in Messages

Ctrl–click on any message thread in Messages and choose Pin. The thread will now be pinned to the top of the olvw#dqg#glvsod|hg#dv#wkh#surĽoh# picture of the other person in the conversation. You can also pin conversations by swiping right over them and choosing the pin icon, or by dragging a conversation to the top of the list. You can pin up to nine conversations.

9 Messages allows you to use a Memoji as your proﬁle pic, or you can choose a photo.

Change your proﬁle pic in Messages

Check privacy labels for apps and websites

Privacy has been at the heart of recent updates to both macOS and iOS. The two areas where this is most obvious in Big Sur are the privacy labels in the App Store and privacy

information in Safari. In the App Store, navigate to the app you’re interested in, scroll down to App Privacy, and click See Details. In Safari, navigate to a website and then click the shield icon to the left of the sidebar. Then just click the drop–down menu to see the trackers on that page.

Use Quick Look in Spotlight

You can now preview documents in Spotlight using Quick Look. Click the Spotlight icon in the menu bar or use its keyboard shortcut to invoke it. Type your search query then click on any document such as a PDF or text document to see a preview in the right–hand window. Xvh#wkh#vfuroo#edu#ru#wzrĞĽqjhuhg# gestures to scroll through the document. You can enlarge the window by clicking and dragging it from the top or bottom.

Use an APFS– formatted disk with Time Machine

Big Sur now allows you use an APFS disk with Time Machine. You will Ľuvw#qhhg#wr#uhirupdw#wkh#glvn#|rx# want to use in Disk Utility and choose APFS. You can then select it in the Time Machine pane in System Preferences.

JUN 2021 31

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JUN 2021 33

>>> Feature

R U O Y T S BOO

Y T I R U C SE Beat malware, keep hackers at bay, and ensure your online activities stay private and out of the hands of snoopers and ad agencies WRITTEN BY NICK PEERS

34 JUN 2021

Boost your online security

WE’RE SURE YOU haven’t fallen for the old fallacy that Macs are somehow impervious to harm. If not, the recent revelation that a new form of malware has targeted 30,000 Macs (including those with the new M1 chip) should be your wake–up call. But it isn’t simply a case of installing anti–virus software and carrying on as before. You need to close other security and privacy holes too, most of which are linked to the online world, from web browsing and shopping to email and messaging. Over the following pages, we’re going to help you give your Mac a thorough security checkup. After installing security software, you’ll give your sdvvzrugv#d#ixoo#dxglw#dqg#Ľqg#zd|v# to protect your online accounts from hackers. We’ll reveal how to make web browsing in general safer and more private, with all the tools, tips, and techniques you need to block those invisible trackers that seem to anticipate your every online move. Dqg#zhġoo#Ľqlvk#e|#orrnlqj#dw#krz#|rx# can close a huge security loophole by encrypting your emails and switching to a truly private messaging system so that your online conversations — including any sensitive info — can’t be intercepted. Ready to tighten your Mac’s online security? Read on…

JUN 2021 35

>>> Feature

You’ll need a premium account ($10 per year) to access Bitwarden’s tools to vet your passwords.

SECURITY BASICS Combat malware and strengthen passwords Let’s start with the most fundamental aspect of security: installing anti–virus software. Skip to page 6:#iru#d#uxqgrzq#ri#Ľyh#ri#wkh#ehvw# dooĞlqĞrqh#vroxwlrqv>#|rxġoo#dovr#Ľqg# plenty of free options available, starting with the free version of Avira Antivirus (avira.com), which provides real-time protection against viruses. Dyludġv#iuhh#rļhulqj#grhv#ohdyh# some gaps, so install Malwarebytes

Anti-Malware (malwarebytes.com), which can root out infections missed by other anti–virus tools. It’ll install as a fully functional 14–day trial with real–time protection before reverting to a free version that enables you to manually scan your system and uhpryh#dq|#qdvwlhv#|rx#Ľqg1#Eh#vxuh# to set yourself a reminder to run a regular weekly scan. PROTECT ONLINE ACCOUNTS Are you still using the same passwords to protect your online

identity? Even a seemingly strong password may have been exposed in one of the many online hacks over the past decade. Don’t believe us? Visit bit.ly/ mac364hibppw and enter each password you use before clicking “pwned?” The shorter the password, the more likely it’s been breached, and if it has, it will be on the hackers’ radar. Now click Home and enter your email address(es) to discover the shocking truth: it’s almost certain that at least

Why use a password manager? If you have been relying on the same passwords to protect all your accounts, you need a password manager like Bitwarden (bitwarden.com). This allows you to create a secure vault inside which all your sensitive data — passwords, credit card details, and so on — can be stored safely. The vault is encrypted using a master password, the only one you need to remember going forward. (Make sure it’s

36 JUN 2021

a long one, with numbers, such as “WelcomeToTheJungle1987” — so long as it’s not easily guessable.) Bitwarden also comes with a password– generator tool to create the strong, random, and unique passwords you need. Plus, as with all good password managers, it offers extensions for all major browsers as well as mobile apps to make entering those passwords into websites easy.

Bitwarden’s generator tool ensures all your passwords are long, strong, and hack–proof.

Image rights: Bitwarden.

> The top 10 worst passwords of 2020 10

senha

167,728 users entrust their accounts with this, the Portuguese for “password.”

Switch on two–factor authentication for your Apple ID to protect your data from harm.

1234567890

Whether it’s 123 or 1234567890, it’s a dumb password. Brute–force methods will expose this as quickly as all the others.

12345

We get it — when people get lazy they simply use sequential numbers for their passwords. Exposed 2.4 million times.

Cryptomator sets up a secondary form of encryption so you can protect sensitive data.

one of your online accounts has been compromised. Wkh#Ľ{#lqyroyhv#fuhdwlqj#xqltxh# passwords for each online account you have, and that involves installing a password manager (see “Why Use A Password Manager?”) to both store and generate these passwords. The longer the password, the harder it is for a brute–force attack: a random 12–character password containing a mix of upper– and lower–case letters, numbers, and symbols, would take 200 years to crack. After installing and setting up, check to see if your password manager has a vault health option. This can quickly target vulnerable or exposed passwords, giving you a clear path to follow to secure your accounts by targeting the most yxoqhudeoh#Ľuvw1 Completing our essentials check is the additional option of switching on two–factor authentication (2FA) for any accounts that support it. These require a physical device (typically your phone) to complete the login process, so even if your password is

Image rights from top: Apple, Skymatic.

compromised, the account remains locked. Any half–decent online or cloud account — particularly social phgld#+vhh#sdjh#67,#ğ#vkrxog#rļhu# 2FA as an option. Start by switching on 2FA for your Apple ID (see bit.ly/mac3642fa), zklfk#kdv#wkh#dgghg#ehqhĽw#ri# switching on end–to–end encryption (E2E) for all your iCloud–stored data. E2E should be a requirement for all data entrusted to the cloud — and even Apple’s system isn’t perfect because it retains control of the all–important encryption keys required to unlock your data. It’s best not to trust anyone else with these keys — at least for sensitive data you wish to store in the cloud. If you want to put your data beyond the reach of everyone else, you’ll need to add an extra layer of encryption using a tool like Boxcryptor (boxcryptor.com) or Cryptomator (cryptomator.org). The encryption keys remain in your possession (so store them somewhere safe), and it means no one else can intercept or steal your precious data.

123123

It may be slightly harder to guess than the “12345” variants, but it’ll still be exposed through any brute–force attack method.

111111

As revealed by NordPass. Visit bit.ly/mac364badpasswords for the full 200.

Boost your online security

Over 230,000 users think this password is a good one. 3,124,368 exposures says otherwise.

12345678

Ironically exposed less than half the number of times “123456789” has — a “mere” 2.9 million hacks.

password

This old chestnut still ﬁnds favor with over 360,000 users and has been exposed 3.7 million times (and counting).

picture1

While most passwords in this list are revealed in under a second by a brute–force attack, this password holds out for three hours. It’s still ridiculously weak, though.

123456789

It’s been exposed 7.8 million times and is currently used by over 960,000 users.

123456

Everything about this password is wrong: easy to guess, short, and currently used by 2.5 million people. It’s been exposed 23.5 million times.

JUN 2021 37

>>> Feature

SURF SAFELY

Review browser plugins or extensions, and remove any you don’t recognise or remember

Make sure the websites you visit are kept at arm’s length THE VAST BULK of your time online is spent in your web browser, and whether you’ve stuck with Safari or opted for one of the many alternatives, there’s plenty you can do to tighten security.

uBlock Origin is an excellent content–blocking tool for Firefox and all Chromium–based browsers.

Start by performing an audit of all those extensions (also known as add–ons) you’ve installed — in Vdidul/#|rxġoo#Ľqg#wkhp#xqghu#wkh# Extensions tab after selecting Safari > Preferences. Uninstall any you don’t recognize or don’t need, plus enable any that have been installed by your security software, which can rļhu#dgglwlrqdo#surwhfwlrq#+iru# h{dpsoh/#Elwghihqghuġv#WudĿfOljkw# extension will scan pages for potentially harmful content). Before surfhhglqj/#Ľqg#dqg#lqvwdoo#|rxu# password manager’s browser extension to speed up logging into websites (and generating new, strong passwords when you set up new accounts or change passwords).

BROWSE PRIVATELY Your browser’s Private Window or Private Browsing function doesn’t make you invisible on the internet. It enables you to visit sites without leaving any traces on your computer afterwards, but those sites (as well as any keylogger or spyware malware) can still track you. To cover your tracks more hļhfwlyho|/#wu|#dq#dg#eorfnhu#wkdw# stops all kinds of trackers as well as ads, although this may also stop some websites from working correctly. Try pairing Disconnect (disconnect.me/disconnect) with either Ghostery Lite (Safari, ghostery. com/lite/) or uBlock Origin (Firefox, Chrome, bit.ly/mac364ghgorhill).

HOW TO | SECURE YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA

Set strong passwords

Change your account passwords to something stronger. Use a password manager like Bitwarden to generate strong, random 12–character passwords. Make sure they’re saved in your vault.

38 JUN 2021

Add 2FA

Visit authy.com to install a two– factor authentication (2FA) app on your Mac and/or iPhone/iPad. Log into your social accounts and look in the security section for an option to switch on 2FA. Use Authy to store this info.

Check other settings

Take the time to work your way through each account’s individual privacy and safety settings — make sure only those people you trust can see your content (such as Friends on Facebook). Always err on the side of privacy.

Image rights, clockwise from top: Bitdefender, Facebook, Twilio, eBay, Raymond Hill.

Boost your privacy with a VPN Virtual Private Networks allow you to connect to the internet safely wherever you are, even if your only option is the dodgy unsecured Wi–Fi network in your local bar. Your data is encrypted before being transferred through a “tunnel” that’s impervious to attacks. When it reaches its destination, the data is decrypted

You can also take steps to block unwanted tracking cookies when ylvlwlqj#vlwhv#iru#wkh#Ľuvw#wlph1#Zkhq# the cookie prompt appears, click the option to review the settings; the site is obliged to preselect only those cookies essential to the site functioning correctly, so scroll down and click “Save and Close” to reject the more intrusive ones. GO FURTHER Check your browser’s privacy settings — typically found under Preferences or Settings. Safari only rļhuv#edvlf#rswlrqv/#exw#rwkhuv#ğ# like Firefox (jhwĽuhir{1frp) — are more aggressive in what they can eorfn1#Lwġv#khuh#zkhuh#|rxġoo#dovr#Ľqg#

Secure networks

Resist the temptation to log on to your social networking sites through insecure or public Wi–Fi networks. Set up a VPN (see the information above) and always connect through that to ensure your data can’t be intercepted.

— with the same happening in reverse. Your anti–virus tool may come with a limited free VPN built–in, but if you’re willing to pay, our VPN of choice is ExpressVPN (from around $13 a month, expressvpn.com) because it’s fast, secure, and covers all your devices. If that’s too expensive, try Windscribe’s free option (windscribe.com).

Never just accept all cookies. Click to view more details and gain full control over what’s set. options to clear cookies and site data. Be careful though, as doing so wipes all cookies associated with site preferences (including login data). Most websites should use the secure https:// protocol by default, but not all do. Your browser should automatically redirect to a https:// website when you type in the address

Careful when clicking

Do you know where a link is taking you? Many people use URL shorteners like bit.ly to reduce character counts in posts, but they can also be used to obfuscate a link’s true destination. Always think twice before clicking.

Image rights, clockwise from top: Bitwarden, Facebook, Twitter, ExpressVPN, TECHTARGET.

Windscribe’s VPN lets you connect from 10 different locations and comes with 10GB monthly data.

and warn you when it can’t (try http://neverssl.com). But just because a website is using https:// doesn’t make it safe. Sites can be hacked or compromised, and while browsers and security software can spot these, some still slip through. Verify a website’s identity by clicking the padlock icon next to the address edu#dqg#h{dplqlqj#lwv#fhuwlĽfdwh1 Finally, when you “look up” web addresses, the data is sent unencrypted, so your ISP or malicious actors can peek at your viewing habits. Investigate DNS over HTTPS, aka DoH (bit.ly/mac364 cbdnshttps), which only covers your browser, or see above about VPNs for a more comprehensive solution.

Don’t stay logged in

Log out of your accounts when you’re not using them. Also check to see if your social network lets you view which devices and apps you’re currently logged into (Settings > Security and account access in Twitter).

JUN 2021 39

>>> Feature

SECURE MESSAGES AND MAIL Encrypt your email and chat to keep conversations private

EMAIL IS ONE of the most insecure forms of communication on the internet. By default, all messages are sent in plain text, which makes intercepting them a breeze. It means sharing sensitive data via email is a no–no unless you – and your email correspondent – are willing to encrypt your messages. The easiest way to do this is to both sign up for a dedicated email account with the likes of ProtonMail (protonmail.com), which provides encrypted email as standard between ProtonMail users. The step–by–step guide reveals the process required to

Signal works on all major platforms, including your Mac, iPhone, and iPad, so it’s easy stay in touch whether you’re at your desk or sat on your sofa. jhqhudwh#dq#hqfu|swlrq#fhuwlĽfdwh# and key to scramble your emails using Mail — but it’s a one–time job, and can also be used to digitally sign your messages to prove your identity. Once set up, open Mail, select your account, and click the compose (pen and paper) button — you should see

a blue check mark appear next to the subject line. This is your digital stamp of authenticity that allows uhflslhqwv#wr#frqĽup#wkh#hpdlo# they’ve received from your address is from you. (You’ll be prompted for your account password each time you use it in a new conversation.)

HOW TO | E NC RY PT YO U R E MAI L

Apply for a certiﬁcate

Go to bit.ly/mac364actalisfec to obtain your secure electronic mail certificate. It’s a simple two–step process, clearly laid out: first, enter your email and prove your identity, then request the certificate.

40 JUN 2021

Obtain certiﬁcate

Copy the password from the conﬁrmation web page into your password manager as a secure note. Open the email, click the portal link, and choose “Access the Personal Area” to log in using your email and CRP code.

Update CRP

After logging in, paste in the CRP from the email again, then generate a new private 8–16 digit CRP. Safari’s auto–suggestion is too long, so use your password manager’s generator or enter it manually. Click Submit.

Image rights from top: Signal, ACTALIS S.p.A.

Boost your online security

ENCRYPT EMAILS If you want to encrypt mails with a friend, they’ll need to generate their rzq#V2PLPH#fhuwlĽfdwh#dqg#dwwdfk#lw# to their account via their own email program. Once done, one of you needs to send the other a digitally signed message. Once they’ve received it, they can reply with their own signature, and click the lock button to encrypt the message. SECURE CHAT Can you trust your messaging app to keep your chats private and secure? If in doubt, follow our lead and switch to Signal (signal.org). Its end–to–end encryption puts your messages beyond Signal’s (or anyone else’s) reach. It’s fully open–source, so is free and transparent, and once connected via mobile number to a frqwdfw#|rx#fdq#frqĽup#hdfk#rwkhuġv# identity using its safety number system to ensure you’re always chatting to who you think you are. Vzlwfklqj#wr#Vljqdo#lvqġw#d#wudghĞrļ# between security and functionality — it works across all your major mobile and desktop devices, plus supports audio and one–to–one video calls, and now group video too. Since the WhatsApp privacy furore, more and more people are switching to Signal. You should too.

Download certiﬁcate

Click to return to the personal area, then click “Manage your certificates.” Click the icon on the right of the certificate followed by Download to save it to your hard drive. Once done, locate the .p12 file in your Downloads folder.

5 best anti–virus/ anti– ransomware apps for Mac If you’re serious about security, paying for security software gives you lots of extra protection. There’s plenty of choice, too — here’s ﬁve of the very best to choose from.

Norton 360 $84.99 FROM us.norton.com Norton is one of the longest– established names in security, and Norton 360 both excels in basic protection (perfect AVTest scores) and in offering a raft of tools to boost your privacy online and off.

Bitdefender Antivirus $59.99/year FROM bitdefender.com Bitdefender’s protection is so good you’ll often ﬁnd other tools use its anti–virus engine. It consistently scores perfectly in the AVTest labs and doesn’t slow your Mac.

Avira Antivirus Pro Around $50 per year FROM avira.com The free version provides solid protection against malware — perfect scores from the AVTest labs — but upgrade to gain added anti–ransomware, web, and email protection.

Install certiﬁcate

Double–click the ﬁle, which should open Keychain Access along with a prompt to install the ﬁle — verify login is selected in the drop-down menu, then click Add. Enter the password recorded in step two and click OK.

Image rights from top, left to right: Bitdefender, Intego, NortonLifeLock, Avira Operations, Clario Tech DMCC, ACTALIS S.p.A, Apple.

Intego Mac Internet Security X9 Around $70 FROM intego.com This scores consistently well in lab tests, and while it’s a little heavy on resource usage it’s simple to use and comes with extras, including a ﬁrewall.

Clario Around $137 per year FROM clario.co Clario will appeal to those who like their security as fuss–free as possible. But don’t worry, you won’t be compromising on protection thanks to its perfect AVTest scores and 24/7 human tech support.

Password–free access

To stop Mail prompting you for your Mac password each time you sign or encrypt an email, select the certiﬁcate from My Certiﬁcates in Keychain Access and double–click the private key.

JUN 2021 41

The home of technology techradar.com

TOUGH TESTING, TRUSTED RATINGS HERE AT MAC|LIFE we believe you should only buy the things that you really need, which is why our Reviews section is so important to us, and you. We don’t want you to waste time and money on inferior products, and while we aim to include only the best hardware and apps, occasionally we like to include products that look promising, even if they don’t always deliver. We only use carefully selected experts, with vshfldolvw#nqrzohgjh#lq#wkhlu#uhvshfwlyh#Ľhog/#vr# no matter which review you’re reading, you can be frqĽghqw#wkh#shuvrq#zkrġv#whvwhg#lw#nqrzv#wkhlu# vwxļ/#doorzlqj#|rx#wr#pdnh#dq#lqiruphg#sxufkdvh1 Hdfk#uhylhz#lv#udwhg#xvlqj#d#ĽyhĞvwdu#v|vwhp/# with half stars, which is easy to understand because we give an explanation next to each one. The surgxfwv#wkdw#uhdoo|#vwdqg#rxw/#wkrvh#zlwk#d#ĽyhĞ star rating, get a Mac|Life Editor’s Choice award.

Only the best… The products that really stand out in the mag — those that receive a ﬁve–star rating — get the Mac|Life Editor’s Choice award. It doesn’t get any better than this, so you’d be mad not to buy anything bearing this mighty accolade.

App|Life Hardware & macOS apps

60 Nudget: Spending Tracker

44 Airthings House Kit

49 Gemini 2

62 Scanner Pro: PDF Scanner App

46 Notability

50 Attentat 1942

63 GoodTask 6.4

47 TextBuddy

52 ZipDrive

64 Dungeon of the Endless: Apogee

47 Rip Them Off

53 Commander One 3.0

48 Razer Kiyo Pro

54 Group test: True wireless noise–cancelling headphones

65 Photo Culling 65 DEVONThink To Go 3.0 66 6 apps to take the pain out of parenting 68 Best of the best Mac|Life’s pick of the best apps

Image rights, clockwise from top: Sawyer Blatz, Readdle, Ginger Labs, Airthings.

JUN 2021 43

>>> Reviews

Airthings House Kit Breathe easy with this air–quality monitor $299 From Airthings, airthings.com Features Smart home air quality monitoring, multi–room, live data, Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, IFTTT integration

T We like the look of the kit, but the Wave Hub does need to be screwed to a wall, so that’s worth bearing in mind.

AIRTHINGS HOUSE KIT

Keep an eye on your air quality Easy to set up and use No HomeKit support Renters beware! SOLID

44 JUN 2021

here hasn’t been a change in the atmosphere, Beck once sang, although he probably wasn’t thinking about radon, mold, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) when he wrote it. Heck, “party” and “VOC” even rhyme. What a chorus that would’ve been. Luckily, you can ensure a healthy atmosphere at home with the Airthings House Kit — a one–box air monitoring solution that comprises an Airthings Wave Mini (available separately for $79.99), a Wave Radon ($199.99), and a Hub ($79.99) for $299. The House Kit offers loads of functionality, including Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and If This Then That (IFTTT) support. However, while Airthings includes a free app for iOS and a web dashboard, the system doesn’t play nice with Apple’s HomeKit, which is a shame. Setup is straightforward. We put the Wave Mini in a bedroom where we could use it to monitor mold risk, VOCs, temperature, and humidity; and we put the Wave Radon in the lounge, where it could measure radon, temperature, and humidity. We linked the two together using the Hub, which enables you to monitor the atmosphere in your home both locally and remotely using the aforementioned iOS app and web dashboard. Both the Wave Mini and Wave Radon are battery–powered and are easily set up using Bluetooth and the iOS app; the Hub is slightly more convoluted in that it needs wall power and a direct connection to your Wi–Fi router.

Another shortcoming at this stage is the design of the Airthings devices. While the Wave Radon, Wave Mini, and Hub are unobtrusive (in the same way as smoke detectors), only the Mini comes with a clip–on stand so it can be used free–standing. The Wave Radon and Hub both ideally need to be screwed to a wall, which may be an issue if you’re renting. This is particularly true for the Hub, where the cables hang off the bottom of the device rather than attaching to the back. It’s not a deal–breaker, but it’s worth bearing in mind. CALIBRATE AND GO Once the system’s up and running it’ll start delivering room measurements within the hour, although it can take up to seven days for the Airthings to calibrate properly. You can see how your home is doing at any time by waving your hand in front of the Wave Radon or Wave Mini — red is bad, orange is fair, and green is good — with more detail available through the iOS app or web dashboard. Additionally, the iOS app can alert you if a room is too chilly or stuffy, for example. If you’re using Alexa, Google, or IFFFT you can use this information to trigger further actions — notching up the temperature using a smart thermostat, say. But HomeKit owners are literally left in the cold. THE BOTTOM LINE. A one–stop solution to air quality monitoring that doesn’t quite go far enough. ROB MEAD–GREEN

Image rights: Airthings.

Tough testing, trusted ratings

Airthings’ air quality monitoring system includes mold detection as well as radon, humidity, and temperature.

Image rights: Airthings.

JUN 2021 45

>>> Reviews

Notability Share and sync with your iPhone and iPad $8.99 (IAPs) From Ginger Labs, gingerlabs.com Needs macOS 10.15 or later

Notability on the Mac has the same multi–panel interface as the iPad app.

NOTABILITY

Syncs over iCloud Document versions Made for fingers Inconsistent fonts SOLID

46 JUN 2021

Notability is one of our favorite note–taking apps for iOS and iPadOS, and we’ve described its simple but powerful note–taking abilities as near–perfect. The Mac app comes courtesy of Apple’s Catalyst, which makes it easier to port iOS apps to macOS. Although it looks voljkwo|#glļhuhqw#rq#d#PdfErrn#lwġv# essentially the same app, right down to the instructions to tap on icons and to resize lpdjhv#zlwk#|rxu#Ľqjhuv1 Some of the features in Notability require additional payment. Handwriting recognition to turn your writing into editable text and math recognition to turn equations into hi–res images are $2.99 each, and the Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter themes are $0.99 apiece. The interface is organized into four sections including the main editing window. The Library is a Finder–style sidebar that shows all your note categories, and to its right there are thumbnails of the notes in that category. The main editing panel is next, dqg#Ľqdoo|#wkhuhġv#d#qrwh#qdyljdwru#zlwk# thumbnails of the current note at the right.

You can hide all the other panels, and if you do the editing panel will automatically resize and rescale the text. We found that quite annoying — hiding the panels made the appearance of the text jump from 11pt to 20pt, and switching into full–screen mode took it to 48pt. One of the things we like best about Notability on iOS is its support for the Apple Pencil, enabling you to annotate, scribble, sketch, and highlight in a really natural way. You can do all these things with your Mac too, but unless you have a graphics tablet or use your iPad and pencil via Sidecar it’s quite awkward with a trackpad or mouse. And if you’re going to use Sidecar you might as well use the iPad Notability app instead. We think Notability on Mac is best considered as a companion to the iPad dss1#Ehlqj#deoh#wr#dffhvv/#hglw/#uhrujdql}h# and share your notes, drawings, scans and recordings from the Mac, and to add content you can then access on your iPad, is very xvhixo1#Exw#Qrwdelolw|#grhvqġw#ihho#olnh#d# native Mac app, and given the choice ehwzhhq#xvlqj#lw#rq#rxu#PdfErrn#dqg#rq#rxu# iPad we’d go for the iPad and Apple Pencil. THE BOTTOM LINE. This is a companion app rather than a standalone Mac app. CARRIE MARSHALL

Notability enables you to record audio with your notes, which is useful in meetings and lectures.

Image rights: Ginger Labs.

Tough testing, trusted ratings

Rip Them Off In this game, greed is good $8.99 From Lozange Lab, rip-them-off.com Needs macOS 10.13 or later

TextBuddy A textcellent utility Free (optional gratuity) From Click on Tyler, textbuddy.app Needs macOS 10.15 or later

When you work with text, you often need to manipulate it. Text editors provide tools for doing this, but not necessarily all the ones you need. If one’s missing, chances are TextBuddy can come to your aid. Throw text into the app — be that plain text or mark-up — and you can do all kinds of things with it. There are over 433#frppdqgv#wr#wudqvirup/#Ľowhu/#vruw/#dqg#frqyhuw#wh{w1# Need to pull text from HTML? Easy. Markdown to HTML? Simple. Open every URL within a document? Done. Remove every line containing the word “Microsoft”? Can do. Actions are instant and there’s a Spotlight–like Quick Frppdqg#zlqgrz#wkdw#Ľowhuv#dydlodeoh#frppdqgv#dv#|rx# type. Meanwhile, stats are displayed so you can keep tabs on word count and reading time. Even then, TextBuddy’s not done. You can have it pull text from an image or grab words from a screenshot taken in–app. The only time the app can be over–ambitious is when you have it transcribe audio, since its formatting isn’t a patch on Otter’s. But this is the tiniest of niggles. THE BOTTOM LINE. A marvel. If you work with text, you need this app. CRAIG GRANNELL

This 2D game of “questionable ethics” has a jazzy soundtrack, visuals that owe a debt to the iconic posters of Saul Bass, and a tongue–in–cheek tone that fits nicely with these increasingly corporatized times. Your mission is to build lots of stores to attract “dupes” and then — you’ve guessed it — rip them off. If you don’t rip them off to a sufficient extent, the board will give you the boot. To prosper you have to decide where to place your stores and what kind of stores they should be. Get it wrong and you won’t make enough money to keep the board content. You can use your profits to add more stores and make more money, advancing up the corporate ladder. The game suffers from a huge problem, though — its steep learning curve. Despite the tutorial you’re landed in the world without any real idea of what you’re doing or why shop X costs more than shop Y. It clicks eventually and the game becomes quite addictive, but we suspect many people may give up because of that initial lack of direction. THE BOTTOM LINE. Cute and fun, but assumes too much for beginners. CARRIE MARSHALL RIP THEM OFF

Gorgeous visuals Smooth soundtrack Confusing at first iOS app is $5 less SOLID

TEXTBUDDY

Loads of handy tools Image–to–text conversion Smartly considered interface Transcript formats merely OK AWESOME

Image rights from left: Click on Tyler, Lozange Lab.

JUN 2021 47

>>> Reviews

Much care and attention has been put into the its solid construction.

Razer Kiyo Pro A ﬂawed gem of a camera for Mac users $199.99 From Razer, razer.com Features Gorilla Glass 3 lens, 1080p, 60fps, low–light sensor, microphone, braided USB–A to USB–C cable

Picture quality is crisp in bright scenes, balancing light and shadow impressively well.

RAZER KIYO PRO

Superb in low light Fantastic build quality No Synapse app on Macs You may need a USB adapter GREAT

48 JUN 2021

Razer is known for PC gaming, so why use its Kiyo Pro webcam on a Mac? Well, this remarkably well–made device exudes quality, from its rock–solid construction to its lengthy braided (USB–A to USB–C) cable. Its primary draw, though, is its adaptive low–light sensor. First, a major caveat: Razer’s Synapse app, zklfk#dgmxvwv#euljkwqhvv/#Ľhog#ri#ylhz/#dqg# more, does not work on Macs (Razer told us an app is in the works, though). Your video–calling app might let you adjust these settings, and if you also have a PC, you can adjust settings in Synapse there and the Kiyo Pro will remember them on your Mac. Basics like autofocus and light–sensing work on both platforms. Low light is where the camera really shines. Against the Creative Live! Cam Sync 1080p the results were quite literally glaring.

In a dark room with just a lamp or our Mac’s display for lighting, the Creative struggled to balance the brightness and shadows; in the end, we were a washed–out mess. The Kiyo Pro got it spot on, preserving detail and keeping us bright but never overexposed. Lq#euljkwhu#oljkwlqj#wkh#glļhuhqfh#lv#ohvv# pronounced, but the Kiyo Pro is still much better. Its performance under harsh, direct lighting is less impressive, but still ahead of the Creative. The less we say about Apple’s FaceTime HD camera, the better. If you can overlook the Synapse issue, this lv#d#whuulĽf#zhefdp/#hvshfldoo|#li#|rxu#vhwxs# struggles in poor lighting. However, $200 is a lot for a webcam with no dedicated Mac app. Think carefully before you buy. THE BOTTOM LINE. Amazing low–light performance, but a big software caveat. ALEX BLAKE

Image rights: Razer.

Tough testing, trusted ratings

Gemini 2 Still purging duplicates after all these years $19.95/year or $44.95 one–time purchase From MacPaw, macpaw.com/gemini Needs OS X 10.10 or later; 64–bit processor

Since launching in 2016, Gemini 2 has ehfrph#wkh#txlfnhvw/#prvw#hļhfwlyh#zd|# wr#Ľqg#dqg#ghohwh#gxsolfdwh#Ľohv1# Ihdwxulqj#d#vlpsoh#gudjĞdqgĞgurs#xvhu# lqwhuidfh#zlwk#srzhuixo#wrrov#wr#urrw#rxw# xqzdqwhg#frslhv#wkdw#frqvxph#ydoxdeoh# glvn#vsdfh/#lwġv#kdug#wr#lpdjlqh#wklv#xwlolw|# jhwwlqj#dq|#ehwwhu1 IodvkĞiruzdug#d#ihz#|hduv/#dqg# ghyhorshu#PdfSdz#kdv#irxqg#d#zd|1# Wkh#odwhvw#yhuvlrq#lqwurgxfhv#Gxsolfdwhv# Prqlwru/#dq#rswlrqdo#phqx#edu#dss#wkdw# nhhsv#wdev#rq#vshflĽf#glvnv#ru#iroghuv/# qrwli|lqj#xvhuv#lq#uhdoĞwlph#dv#gxsolfdwhv# srs#xs1#Ehvw#ri#doo/#Jhplql#txlhwo|#zrunv# lq#wkh#edfnjurxqg#zlwkrxw#qhhglqj#wr# odxqfk#wkh#ixoo#dssolfdwlrq1 Diwhu#ehlqj#dfwlydwhg#iurp#Suhihuhqfhv/# Gxsolfdwhv#Prqlwru#ehjlqv#vfdqqlqj#iurp# wkh#odvw#orfdwlrq#fohdqhg#e|#Jhplql1#Exw# lwġv#hdv|#wr#dgg#vshflĽf#iroghuv#ru#hyhq#dq# hqwluh#glvn/#wkhq#uhylhz#gxsolfdwhv#dw#|rxu# ohlvxuh#dv#qrwlĽfdwlrqv#dsshdu1#Wklv#lv# d#kxjh#wlphĞvdyhu#dv#|rx#qr#orqjhu#kdyh# wr#odxqfk#wkh#dss#dqg#shuirup#d#vfdq#rq# idyrulwh#iroghuv#hdfk#dqg#hyhu|#wlph1 Jhplql#5#kdv#wzhdnhg#lwv#exvlqhvv# prgho#ğ#lqvwhdg#ri#ehlqj#vrog#dv# d#shushwxdo#olfhqvh#wkdw#fdq#wkhruhwlfdoo|# eh#xvhg#iruhyhu/#wkh#iruphu#'4<1<8#sulfh# qrz#zrunv#dv#d#vxevfulswlrq#jrrg#iru#rqh#

Images deleted from Photos are moved to the Deleted Photos album where they can be restored or purged.

Image rights: MacPaw.

|hdu#rq#d#vlqjoh#frpsxwhu1#+D#rqhĞwlph# sxufkdvh#lv#qrz#'771<81,#Zhġuh#qrw#elj# idqv#ri#wklv#dssurdfk#exw/#wr#eh#idlu/#rxu# shushwxdo#olfhqvh#iurp#5349#frqwlqxhv# wr#uhfhlyh#iuhtxhqw#exj#Ľ{hv#dqg#hyhq# rffdvlrqdo#qhz#ihdwxuhv#+olnh#Gxsolfdwhv# Prqlwru,/#vr#wklv#dssġv#d#jrrg#lqyhvwphqw1 Vshdnlqj#ri#xsgdwhv/#wkh#prvw#uhfhqw# yhuvlrq#51;19#lpsuryhv#krz#Jhplql#5# kdqgohv#gxsolfdwhv#lq#|rxu#Skrwrv#oleudu|/# prylqj#xqzdqwhg#lpdjhv#wr#wkh#Uhfhqwo|# Ghohwhg#doexp#zkhuh#wkh|#fdq#eh#hdvlo|# uhvxuuhfwhg#ehiruh#ehlqj#sxujhg#iurp# lForxg#diwhu#63#gd|v1#Wklv#rqo|#zrunv#rq# Pdfv#uxqqlqj#Fdwdolqd#ru#odwhu/#zlwk#wkh# plqru#wudghĞrļ#wkdw#|rxġoo#qr#orqjhu#eh# deoh#wr#xvh#Jhplqlġv#exlowĞlq#Sxw#Edfn# ihdwxuh#iru#wklv#sxusrvh1 Jhplql#5#kdv#lpsuryhg#zlwk#djh/#uduh# lq#dq#hud#zkhq#qhz#yhuvlrqv#duh#uhohdvhg# dqqxdoo|#zkhwkhu#wkh|#qhhg#lw#ru#qrw1 THE BOTTOM LINE.#Wklv#pxvwĞkdyh# xwlolw|#lv#vwloo#jrlqj#vwurqj#Ľyh#|hduv#odwhu1# JR BOOKWALTER

Even at ﬁve years old, Gemini 2 is the fastest way to purge duplicates from a Mac.

GEMINI 2

Duplicates Monitor Better handles Photos Background scans Subscription pricing EXCELLENT

JUN 2021 49

>>> Reviews

The characters’ memories are portrayed using comic strips set in the war.

Attentat 1942 Life under Nazi occupation made real $8.99 From Charles Games, attentat1942.com Needs macOS 10.15 or later

he premise of Attentat 1942 seems simple — you interview survivors of the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia to discover information about your grandfather. The more you play, though, the more it reveals the complexity and ambiguities of trying to survive amidst such brutal repression. Why was your grandfather arrested by the Gestapo? How did your grandmother survive the war? These are the surface questions of the game, but they in turn reveal deeper uncertainties — by

T ATTENTAT 1942

Realistic and believable Excellent acting Fascinating story Some repetition EXCELLENT

50 JUN 2021

agitating against resistance activities, are you a collaborator or a survivor? Vkrxog#|rx#Ľjkw#edfn#hyhq#li#lw#wuljjhuv# violent retaliation against innocent people? Attentat 1942’s characters react wr#wkhvh#txhvwlrqv#lq#glļhuhqw#zd|v>#wkh# past is complex, the truth hard to discern. Much of the game involves interviewing these people in live–action vignettes. Although the characters in Attentat 1942 are portrayed by actors, they are remarkably believable thanks to the game’s naturalistic writing and the

Image rights: Charles Games.

Tough testing, trusted ratings

skill of the actors. The story was written by historians, giving it a grounded authenticity that few war games can match. You can easily forget Attentat 1942 is a game that must be completed rather than an interactive movie that you passively consume. Ask the wrong question and your vxemhfwv#fdq#vxgghqo|#wudlo#rļ#ru#uhixvh#wr# divulge any more information, temporarily locking you out of lines of inquiry or interview subjects. You can redo interviews at the cost of one coin per retry, but these often involve long, unskippable sections before you get the chance to ask a fresh question, which is a shame. How do you earn coins? By completing the mini–games scattered throughout Attentat 1942. Each is set during the occupation period and takes the form of an animated comic strip. Some are puzzles while others comprise quick–time events, so there’s a good variety to keep you on your toes. Frustratingly, many are completely devoid of hints. One mini–game involves stalling the Gestapo at your front door so your wife can hide incriminating Resistance evidence, with each word you choose spawning more options to blurt out under the pressure of an ever–decreasing time bar. Most options seem reasonable, making choosing the correct one feel like an exercise in guesswork. Get it

wrong and the worst that happens is you miss out on some coins, but it still feels a little arbitrary. This is a minor gripe, though, and Attentat 1942 is an otherwise excellent experience. Its lifelike, deeply realistic portrayal of life under occupation — the fear, the resilience, the attempts at survival, and even some degree of normality — will resonate long diwhu#|rx#Ľqlvk#lw1#Uhjdugohvv#ri#zkhwkhu# |rxġuh#d#klvwru|#exļ#ru#h{sorulqj#wkh#vxemhfw# iru#wkh#Ľuvw#wlph/#wkhuhġv#sohqw|#wr#oryh#derxw# Attentat 1942. THE BOTTOM LINE. History brought to life with poignancy and gravitas. ALEX BLAKE

You must interview survivors of Nazi repression to progress the story.

The mini–games are varied and interesting, such as this clever poetry duel.

Image rights: Charles Games.

JUN 2021 51

>>> Reviews

ZipDrive Your computers, now available from everywhere $9.95/year per computer From iDrive, zipdrive.com Needs macOS 10.13 or later; iOS 13 or later; iPadOS 13 or later

ZipDrive’s web dashboard offers remote access and unlimited ﬁle transfers.

ZIPDRIVE

Remote access to Mac Multiple security Aggressive 2FA Document edit bugs GOOD

52 JUN 2021

iDrive taps into ’90s nostalgia for Iomega’s srsxodu#vxffhvvru#wr#wkh#ľrss|#zlwk#lwv# forxgĞsrzhuhg#]lsGulyh1#Wkh#qhz#vhuylfh# kdv#pruh#lq#frpprq#zlwk#Srjrsoxj/#dq#hduo|# ģshuvrqdo#forxgĤ#zklfk#doorzhg#xvhuv#wr# uhprwho|#dffhvv#Ľohv#yld#zhe#ru#preloh1 ]lsGulyh#Ľoov#wkh#vdph#qlfkh/#exw#zlvho|# holplqdwhv#sxufkdvlqj#eudqghg#kdugzduh#wr# jhw#frqqhfwhg1#Eh|rqg#dq#dfwlyh#lqwhuqhw# frqqhfwlrq/#doo#wkdwġv#uhtxluhg#lv#krvw# vriwzduh#iru#pdfRV/#Zlqgrzv/#ru#Olqx{/#dqg# d#'<1<8#shu#|hdu#ihh#iru#hdfk#frpsxwhu#|rx# zdqw#wr#dffhvv1#Rq#Pdf/#]lsGulyh#lv#d#phqx# edu#dss#xvhg#wr#hqwhu#|rxu#olfhqvh#nh|/#soxv# d#wrjjoh#vzlwfk#wkdw#frqwurov#dffhvv#wr#wkdw# frpsxwhu1#Rwkhu#vhwwlqjv#ghwhuplqh#zklfk# iroghuv#uhprwh#xvhuv#kdyh#dffhvv#wr/#dorqj# zlwk#rswlrqv#wr#h{foxgh#dssolfdwlrqv/#v|vwhp# Ľohv/#ru#rwkhu#orfdwlrqv#ri#|rxu#fkrrvlqj1 ]lsGulyh#wdnhv#vhfxulw|#vhulrxvo|/#vwduwlqj# zlwk#WOV#415#hqfu|swlrq#iru#hdfk#vhvvlrq1# Hyhu|#qhz#eurzvhu/#vpduwskrqh/#ru#wdeohw# pxvw#Ľuvw#eh#dgghg#wr#d#olvw#ri#wuxvwhg#ghylfhv/# uhtxlulqj#rqhĞwlph#hpdlo#yhulĽfdwlrq1#

WzrĞidfwru#dxwkhqwlfdwlrq#lv#dydlodeoh#exw#lv# ryhuo|#djjuhvvlyh/#surpswlqj#iru#d#qhz#frgh# hyhu|#wlph#d#wuxvwhg#ghylfh#orjv#rxw1 Eh|rqg#wkdw/#lwġv#prvwo|#vprrwk#vdlolqj1# Vhohfw#d#frpsxwhu#wr#dffhvv/#dqg#wkh# Gdvkerdug#srsxodwhv#zlwk#vkruwfxwv#+P|# Ilohv/#Grfxphqwv/#Skrwrv/#Ylghrv/#Pxvlf/# Dufklyhv,#dqg#Uhfhqwo|#Dffhvvhg#Ľohv1# Wkhuhġv#dovr#rqhĞfolfn#dffhvv#wr#Ghvnwrs/# Grzqordgv/#Grfxphqwv/#dqg#Slfwxuhv/#dv#zhoo# dv#dq#rswlrq#wr#slq#Ľohv#ru#iroghuv#dv# Idyrulwhv#+d#ghylfh0vshflĽf#ihdwxuh/#vr#lwhpv# vdyhg#rq#rqh#ghylfh#zrqġw#v|qf#wr#rwkhuv,1 Rqh#frqyhqlhqw#ihdwxuh#lv#wkh#delolw|#wr# fuhdwh#sodlq#wh{w#Ľohv#dv#zhoo#dv#RĿfhĞ irupdwwhg#grfxphqwv/#vkhhwv/#ru#volghv1# Dowkrxjk#wklv#zrunhg#zhoo#iru#qhz#Ľohv/#zh# zhuh#xqdeoh#wr#vxffhvvixoo|#hglw#h{lvwlqj# grfxphqwv/#zklfk#zrxog#rshq#ylhzĞrqo|/# uhjdugohvv#ri#sodwirup#ru#ghylfh1#ExlowĞlq# vkdulqj#rswlrqv#duh#urexvw/#exw#Ľohv#fdq#rqo|# eh#dffhvvhg#zkloh#d#frpsxwhu#lv#rqolqh1 ]lsGulyh#grhv#kdyh#d#ihz#txlunv1#Lpdjhv# lqgh{hg#iurp#rxu#Skrwrv#oleudu|#vkrz#xs# wzlfh#+dv#KHLF#dqg#MSHJ,#dqg#rq#preloh# wkhuhġv#qr#zd|#wr#vruw#olvw#ylhzv#h{fhsw#dv# gdwh#prglĽhg>#wkdqnixoo|#exlow0lq#vhdufk# pdnhv#lw#hdv|#wr#Ľqg#zkdw#|rxġuh#orrnlqj#iru1 THE BOTTOM LINE.#Rļ#wr#d#jrrg#vwduw#exw# zrunv#ehvw#rq#zhe#iru#qrz1#JR BOOKWALTER

Robust web access and ﬁle sharing options are among the highlights of using ZipDrive.

Image rights: iDrive.

Tough testing, trusted ratings

Commander One 3.0 A dual–pane Finder alternative ready for Big Sur Free (IAPs) From Electronic Team, ftp-mac.com Needs macOS 10.12 or later

With Mac OS X recently turning 20, now is a good time to acknowledge how far the Finder has come. But despite these advances, there are still Mac owners who feel it doesn’t go far enough — and that’s zkhuh#dowhuqdwlyh#Ľoh#pdqdjhuv#frph#lq1 Commander One 3.0 is a versatile dual–pane solution with support for unlimited tabs, hotkey shortcuts, built–in Command Line bar, and FTP client that not only speeds up everyday tasks but also eliminates the need to purchase third–party Mac utilities. To some degree that includes the developer’s own CloudMounter now that Commander One directly accesses cloud storage services Google Drive, OneDrive, Mega, and pCloud, as well as Dropbox and Box. Launching Commander One 3.0 for the Ľuvw#wlph/#wkhuhġv#olwwoh#ylvxdo#lqglfdwlrq# that anything has changed from the previous version aside from a revamped Big Sur–style “squircle” icon. That’s because most of the changes are under the hood, beginning with full support and performance tweaks for Big Sur. One thing that hasn’t changed (at least not yet) is that Commander One remains an Intel app, although the software lqvwdoohg#dqg#udq#Ľqh#rq#rxu#P4#PdfErrn# Pro. Despite the developer’s claims of

Commander One 3.0 offers more built–in access to cloud storage like Google Drive, OneDrive, and Mega.

Image rights: Electronic Team.

faster data transfer rates, we found the Apple silicon–enhanced Finder copied an 80GB Parallels VM to a USB 3.0–connected external SSD in just under three minutes ğ#derxw#43#vhfrqgv#idvwhu#wkdq#xvlqj# Commander Pro for the same task. Although we prefer the overcrowded UI chock full of options, there’s something to be said for being user–friendly too. File manager competitors Path Finder or ForkLift still feel more like native Mac apps while also improving discoverability of crucial features like favorite locations, which are largely buried here. That’s not to say version 3.0 isn’t up to date in other areas. Compatibility with macFUSE 4 enhances Commander One’s kdqgolqj#ri#qdwlyh#Ľoh#v|vwhpv/#dv#zhoo#dv# those from third parties. Amazon S3 users will also like a new option to use path– style URLs when accessing their buckets. THE BOTTOM LINE. A modest update for everyone but macOS Big Sur users. JR BOOKWALTER

Third time isn’t a charm, since the UI doesn’t feel like a native Mac app.

COMMANDER ONE 3.0

Dual–pane file manager Big Sur compatible Loaded with features Not M1 optimized GOOD

JUN 2021 53

>>> Reviews

GROUP TEST REVIEWED BY NICK ODANTZIS

ON TEST... > Anker Liberty Air 2 Pro > Apple AirPods Pro > Jabra Elite 85t > JLAB Epic Air ANC > Technics EAH-AZ70W > X by Kygo Xcellence

TRUE WIRELESS NOISE–CANCELLING HEADPHONES Upgrade your iPhone, iPad, or Mac audio and rid your surroundings of unwanted noise 54 JUN 2021

HE POPULARITY OF True Wireless headphones — that is, headphones that connect to your devices over Bluetooth, have no wires between each unit, and fit inside your ear with buds — has exploded in recent years. But why not on– or over–ear wireless headphones? While the audio quality of on– or over–ear headphones is generally better, they’re not as flexible. True Wireless headphones are tiny, by comparison, easily fitting in your pocket; they’re barely noticeable in use; and they’re more comfortable. They’re also superior when it’s hot outside or when you’re working out — many are even water resistant for that reason. True Wireless headphones are also housed in a case which charges them when not in use — a big benefit when you’re on the move. Nowadays you can even get them with active noise cancelling built in so you can reduce the level of external noise, making them ideal for noisy environments. Here we test six of the best, covering a range of prices. We’ll look at fit, ease–of–use, battery life, noise–cancelling ability and, most importantly, audio quality — and we’ll show you which is the best.

How we tested We loaded up the Qobuz app (qobuz.com), which offers streaming of hi–res audio tracks on iOS or Mac, to ensure each pair of headphones was tested using only the highest quality recordings. We specifically picked tracks that would give each pair of headphones a work out, highlighting any inadequacies, as well as tracks that we personally loved — they need to move us to be great! We also tried an action–packed scene from WWII flick Greyhound to see how each pair fared when watching movies.

JUN 2021 55

>>> Reviews

Things to consider… >>> Music to your ears Most True Wireless headphones have a companion app that allows you to adjust audio. Some even let you perform a hearing test, tailoring the sound for areas where you might need a boost. >>> Fitment varies Depending on the size and shape of your ears, you might need to try different tips to get the right ﬁt. Some come with a wider variety than others. >>> Staying in control True Wireless headphones use touch controls to allow you to make audio adjustments on the ﬂy. If you do this a lot, then it needs to be effective. >>> Your listening tastes No matter which headphones are better, you should always consider which pair works best for your kind of music.

> Anker Liberty Air 2 Pro

> Apple AirPods Pro

$129.99 From Anker, us.soundcore.com

$249 From Apple, apple.com

Anker’s offering aren’t the cheapest here, but they feel more premium than the less expensive JLAB Epic Air ANC. The speckled ﬁnish on the gray charging case looks and feels great, and we love the unique sliding lid. The headphones are equally nice; the stems are a little on the large side, though. Noise cancelling is effective, and there are multiple modes in– app for different scenarios, allowing you to adjust for different external noise. You can boost conversations in Transparancy mode, but it’s not hugely effective. The touch controls are a bit ﬁnicky and often wouldn’t do

The AirPods Pro are getting on a bit now, but Apple’s usual excellence shines through. They’re arguably the best looking, and the case is easily the most compact of the group. It also charges wirelessly. A battery life of just 4:54 hours isn’t bad, but it’s not the best either. The charge time is 1:15 hours, and after a single charge there was 53% left in the tank. Worthy of note: the Pros are the only ones to natively display charge time in iOS 14. Controlling the AirPods Pro is ridiculously easy — the force sensor on the stems giving you positive feedback on your commands.

56 JUN 2021

what we asked — a ﬁrmware upgrade might help in this regard. Audio–wise, these are bright–sounding, with good separation. They go pretty low, but are slightly harsh at the top end and feel slightly muddled, though the adjustable EQ allows you to pair things back a touch. Battery life was impressive at seven hours. Charge time was 34 minutes with two lights out of three left on the case.

Premium look and feel Effective noise cancelling Strong battery performance Touch controls hit–and–miss GOOD

The only downer is a lack of volume control. Fitment feels slightly loose in one ear, though a lack of tips in the box doesn’t prevent a good seal. Audio–wise the Pros put in a sterling performance, perfectly balanced in all kinds of music. Noise cancelling is very good, but Transparency is the real victor here, amplifying external noises with astonishing volume and clarity. No other comes close.

Balanced and detailed audio Controls are perfect Unbeatable Transparency mode Battery life could be a bit better EXCELLENT

Tough testing, trusted ratings

> Jabra Elite 85t

> JLAB Epic Air ANC

$229.99 From Jabra, jabra.com

$99 From JLAB, jlab.com

Jabra’s top–ﬂight Elite 85t headphones are IPX4 water resistant, light and snug without feeling buried, and sit comfortably in your ears. The case is a little plasticky, but it is compact and can be charged wirelessly. You don’t get a charging meter as with other cases, but Jabra’s app gives you the percentage. The 85t’s 5:15 hour battery life was OK, as was its 1:05 hour recharge time. After a single charge there was a huge 70% charge left in the case. These are the only headphones here to feature a physical control, and we can see why — it works well,

Bang–for–buck, JLAB’s Epic Air ANC are hard to beat. Sure, the case is big, but it packs a useful USB–A charging cable, and while the headphones aren’t super hot they’re a good size and fit snugly, offering excellent passive noise cancellation. They’re only IP55 rated, or sweat resistant, mind. The touch controls work well, but you need a firm touch, which hurts your ear canals. For the price, you might not be expecting the Epic Air ANC’s to deliver much on the audio front, but the results are surprising. Sure, they’re a little flat in more dynamic tracks, but the balance is fine

sure, but does put unwanted pressure on your ear canals. As with some of the others, you can create a hearing proﬁle in app, but we didn’t ﬁnd that it made that much difference. The 85t’s sound fairly laid back, with strong bass, though they can get overwhelmed in more complex tracks. Noise cancelling is solid, though transparency doesn’t boost external sounds much at all.

Smooth, bassy audio Headphones look and fit great Case charges wirelessly Controls can hurt your ears GOOD

and bass is solid, if a little dominant. An EQ within the app enables you to tailor the sound further. Noise cancelling is the only ﬂy in the ointment — it doesn’t do much. Oddly, transparency mode is excellent — second only to the AirPods Pro. One other surprise: an 8:30 hour battery life is the best here. After 1:15 hours charge the case showed two out of three lights remaining.

Excellent battery life Decent, bassy audio Great transparency mode Touch controls a bit fiddly GREAT

JUN 2021 57

>>> Reviews

> Technics EAH-AZ70W

> X by Kygo Xcellence

$199.99 From Technics, technics.com

$239 From X by Kygo, xbykygo.com

Technics’ entry in the True Wireless lineup is reﬁned and well built. They ﬁt snugly, though their length makes them sit slightly proud of your ears. The case is a bit on the large side, too. The AZ70W’s are IPX4 rated for water resistance, and feature touch controls which are very responsive and easy to use. In terms of noise cancelling, they block out a lot of noise; they even work well in passive mode. And transparency mode, while not AirPods Pro effective, is pretty decent too. Where the AZ70Ws really come into their own is to be expected given the

Trendy by name, trendy by nature, X by Kygo’s Xcellence feature LED lights in each ear unit (they can be turned off). IPX5 water resistance is good, and the units are large but sit snugly in ear without looking bulky. The only issue we found was that getting them in the ear in the ﬁrst place was tricky — on each occasion a mirror was used to orient them correctly. The matching case is compact, good–looking, and features four battery lights for a more accurate estimation of remaining charge. On that front, the Xcellence’s faired OK, with 4:49 hours of battery life. As

58 JUN 2021

brand’s heritage in the ﬁeld of premium audio. Simply put, they sound absolutely fantastic, with the balance and detail of the AirPods Pro but with more low–end oomph and a more striking soundstage in the default ﬂat EQ. At 4:38 hours, battery life is on the weak side, though recharging was just 50 minutes and the case still showed all three bars after a single charge.

Sublime audio Effective noise cancelling Good touch controls Battery life could be better GREAT

for audio quality? Though these are very heavy on the bass (oddly, there’s a bass boost toggle but no EQ) it’s well controlled. At the other end, clarity and detail is very good, but that low end gets in the way. It was a similar situation in Greyhound, the booming explosions in stark contrast with the hushed voices. Noise cancelling works reasonably well, as does the transparency mode.

IPX5 water resistant Detailed sound Fitment is very fiddly Bass is overpowering SOLID

Tough testing, trusted ratings

THE WINNER

APPLE AIRPODS PRO Balanced audio, effective noise cancelling, easy– to–use, and an unparalleled transparency mode

VERALL, THE AIRPODS Pro are hard to beat. Though they’re not quite the best–sounding here — that accolade goes to the Technics EAH-AZ70W — they have a very likeable, balanced sound that works well with pretty much anything you listen to, and they work well in movies too. The AirPods Pro don’t just do good sound, they also check a lot of other boxes. The noise cancelling is ﬁrst rate and the Transparency mode — which effectively turns the headphones into hearing aids — is mindblowing (or earblowing). They’re also very easy to use thanks to the feedback from the force sensors on each headphone unit, and their compact size means they can easily ﬁt in any pocket. If you’re after pure audio performance, and lots to like elsewhere, we would recommend taking a look at the Technics EAH-AZ70W. They’re cheaper too, though the battery life isn’t the best. Alternatively, budget–seekers should consider the JLAB Epic Air ANC, which — a weakness with their ANC aside — perform far better than their low price would suggest.

JUN 2021 59

APP LIFE THIS MONTH’S MOST INTERESTING iPHONE & iPAD APPS

Nudget: Spending Tracker An easy way to monitor your money $3.99 From Sawyer Blatz, nudgetapp.com Made for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch Needs iOS 13.0 or later

Tracking and managing personal budgets would seem to be a task well suited to software, but many applications on the market are more business–oriented, with features that a regular user probably doesn’t need. There’s always a Pages or Excel spreadsheet too, but they’re not exactly fun. Nudget aims to streamline and simplify the tracking of your personal spending. If it’s easy to do, people are more likely to do it.

Nudget is slick and Apple– like. There are no sign–ups or logins, and iCloud sync is available across your iOS devices. Face ID can also be used on supported devices for dxwkhqwlfdwlrq1#Rq#Ľuvw#odxqfk# you are prompted to enter your monthly income, which can be edited at any point, and extra income can be added on an ad–hoc basis. In the Budget section you can add recurring expenses like rent or subscriptions that the app will automatically factor

Nudget is slick and Apple–like, and iCloud sync is available across devices. into your budget. You can also specify an amount you plan to put into savings every month. This screen shows you how much spending money you have, based on deductions for expenses and savings. The Ľjxuhv#fdq#eh#vsolw#e|#gd|/# week, fortnight, month, quarter, or year.

APP TIPS

Keep a close eye on your personal ﬁnances

In the Settings section you can switch currencies to reﬂect your country of residence. All world currencies are supported by the app.

60 JUN 2021

Use Insights to see useful stats about what’s being spent and how much you’re projected to spend or save by the end of the month, week, or year.

The Recurring Expenses view is very useful for seeing how much goes out regularly, which we can lose track of without an app like this.

Image rights: Sawyer Blatz.

Tough testing, trusted ratings

Get detailed but clear insights into how your spending habits break down.

The day–to–day business of tracking spending happens in the Transaction section. Here you simply tap to add an amount when you make a purchase and there are editable tags like transit, groceries, clothing, and more. The developer recommends using fewer, more generic tags rather than the names of individual stores, for example, to keep the overviews more readable. These transactions automatically get deducted from your available spending money and the third section, called Insights, provides you with an overview of how your spending is going. There’s a budget projection, a list of your biggest purchases, notable drops and jumps in spending lq#vshflĽf#fdwhjrulhv/#dqg#d# total spend indicator. This data can be viewed using the same date range breakdowns as mentioned above. Data can be exported as plain text too.

Image rights: Sawyer Blatz.

Nudget is a straightforward way to record and track personal spending that’s beautifully designed. Bear in mind that it’s not linked to your actual bank accounts, so it only knows what you tell it. It also seems a perfect candidate for Apple Watch support, and happily this is slated for a future update. Budget tracking can be a chore, but Nudget is one of the easiest ways to do it, providing a clear and uncluttered overview of |rxu#Ľqdqfhv1 THE BOTTOM LINE. Nudget is a well–designed budget tracker that keeps things simple. HOLLIN JONES NUDGET: SPENDING TRACKER

Very affordable Easy to set up and use iCloud sync across iOS devices Apple Watch support is pending EXCELLENT

A History view helps you understand patterns of rises or falls in spending.

JUN 2021 61

>>> App Life

Scanner Pro: PDF Scanner App This excellent mobile scanner is now free Free (IAPs) From Readdle, readdle.com Made for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch Needs iOS 11.0 or later

Search for “scanner” on the App Store and dozens of potential solutions are wkhuh#dw#|rxu#Ľqjhuwlsv1# Wkhuhġv#d#jrrg#uhdvrq#iru#wkdw# — over time, iPhone and iPad cameras have become capable of surgxflqj#kljkĞtxdolw|#grfxphqw# scans that rival those of traditional, pruh#h{shqvlyh#ľdwehg#kdugzduh1 You’ll soon discover many of these dssv#duhqġw#zruwk#grzqordglqj/#exw# wkdwġv#ghĽqlwho|#qrw#wkh#fdvh#zlwk# orqjwlph#idyrulwh#Vfdqqhu#Sur/# uhfhqwo|#xsgdwhg#wr#yhuvlrq#;131#Wkh# eljjhvw#fkdqjhB#Wkh#dss#lv#qrz#iuhh/# vr#hyhu|rqh#ehqhĽwv#iurp#h{fhoohqw# features such as automatic crop, vkdgrz#uhprydo/#v|qflqj#vfdqv# ehwzhhq#ghylfhv#yld#lForxg/#dqg# vkdulqj#zlwk#rwkhuv#ğ#doehlw#zlwk# d#uhodwlyho|#xqrewuxvlyh#zdwhupdun1 This limitation can be removed by sd|lqj#'4<1<<#dqqxdoo|#iru#d#qhz#

Always ﬁnd what you’re looking for from the home screen search ﬁeld.

62 JUN 2021

Soxv#vxevfulswlrq/#zklfk#dovr# hqdeohv#rqĞghylfh#RFU#lq#59# odqjxdjhv/#ixoo#wh{w#vhdufk/# sdvvzrug#surwhfwlrq/#dqg# dxwrpdwlf#xsordg#zrunľrzv1# These and other current ihdwxuhv#uhpdlq#xqorfnhg# iru#wkrvh#zkr#rzq#wkh#sdlg# yhuvlrq/#dowkrxjk#ghyhorshu# Uhdggoh#grhv#sodq#wr#lqwurgxfh# dgglwlrqdo#jrrglhv#lq#wkh#ixwxuh# zklfk#pd|#ru#pd|#qrw#uhtxluh# d#vxevfulswlrq1 The update also enhances Vfdqqhu#Surġv#orrn#dqg#ihho/#dv# zhoo#dv#wkh#zd|#xvhuv#rujdql}h# gljlwdo#grfxphqwv#zlwklq#wkh# dss1#D#uhiuhvklqj#fkdqjh#iurp# gdun#prgh/#wkh#XL#lv#qrz#gxdo#vkdghv# ri#h|hĞsohdvlqj#sxusoh/#zlwk#wkh# rswlrq#wr#ylhz#vfdqv#dv#wkxpeqdlov# ru#+Ľqdoo|$,#lq#d#olvw#lqvwhdg1#Qhz# vruwlqj#rswlrqv#doorz#Ľqglqj# grfxphqwv#pruh#txlfno|#e|#qdph/# gdwh#fuhdwhg/#ru#gdwh#prglĽhg1 E|#idu#rxu#idyrulwh#qhz#ihdwxuh#lv# Wh{w#Ylvlrq/#zklfk#dxwrpdwlfdoo|# uhfrjql}hv#vfdqqhg#wh{w#lq#|rxu# document so you can copy or share it uljkw#dzd|1#Rshq#d#vdyhg#grfxphqw/# wds#wkh#Wh{w#exwwrq#dw#erwwrpĞuljkw/# and Scanner Pro immediately ryhuod|v#wkh#uhvxowlqj#wh{w#ryhuodlg# rq#wkh#SGI#Ľoh>#vzlwfklqj#wr#Wh{w# prgh#glvsod|v#d#sodlq#wh{wĞrqo|#ylhz# ri#wkh#rshq#grfxphqw1 Dowkrxjk#|rxġyh#dozd|v#ehhq#deoh# to search by document title, Scanner

Sur#;#qrz#xvhv#Wh{w#Ylvlrq#gdwd#wr# pdnh#wkh#frqwhqw#ri#doo#vdyhg#Ľohv# vhdufkdeoh1#Wklv#ihdwxuh#zrunv#iurp# the app home screen or can be limited to the currently open document — perfect for those of us zkr#uduho|#kdyh#wlph#wr#uhqdph#Ľohv# zkhq#wkh|ġuh#vdyhg1 THE BOTTOM LINE. Better than hyhu/#dqg#qrz#iuhh#iru#doo#wr#xvh1# JR BOOKWALTER SCANNER PRO: PDF SCANNER APP

Best–in–class document scanner Auto convert scans to text Core features are now free Sharing watermark on free app EXCELLENT

Image rights: Readdle.

Tough testing, trusted ratings

GoodTask 6.4 Track everything about yourself Free (IAPs) From Haha Interactive, hahaint.com Made for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch Needs iOS 12.0, iPadOS 12.0 or later

GoodTask makes the process of creating tasks as easy as possible and provides a wealth of customization options for managing them. Version 6.4 adds a Board View that lets you easily view upcoming tasks by deadline in columns across the screen. GoodTask syncs with the iOS Reminders and Calendars app and pulls in your lists from the former. You can pick which lists to include and create new ones. And you can add tags to tasks and Ľowhu#wdvnv#lq#d#olvw#wr#rqo|# see those with, or without, a vshflĽf#wdj1# The real power in Good Tasks lies in Actions and Quick Actions. Actions allow you to create or edit parameters in tasks such as title, due date, and notes.

You can create Smart Lists based on task parameters.

Image rights: Haha Interactive.

Quick Actions allow you to apply multiple Actions simultaneously with one tap. There are several Quick Actions ready to use, but creating your own allows you to make GoodTask work exactly the way you want it to. You can also create templates — groups of tasks and subtasks such as a daily exercise routine. You can then apply the template on any given day, or set it to recur at a chosen frequency. GoodTask is highly customizable thanks to support for themes. But you can also change font sizes, the way tasks are displayed, and even the GoodTask icon. And, as you would expect, there’s an accompanying Apple Watch app. There’s also excellent support for iOS Widgets. We particularly like the Favorites widget that lets you add a customized new task or directly open a list. And, of course, you can share lists to and from GoodTask using Share Sheets. One of the few things GoodTask doesn’t do is allow you to collaborate or delegate tasks easily with others in the way that, say, Microsoft To Do does. GoodTask costs

$9.99 to unlock all of its features. If you want the Mac version, it costs an extra $39.99. Even at that price GoodTask is very competitive and good value for money. THE BOTTOM LINE. A powerful and highly customizable task manager. KENNY HEMPHILL

Quick Actions allow you to apply multiple Actions to a task with one tap.

GOODTASK 6.4

Powerful Quick Actions Customizable themes and templates Can filter lists with tags No delegation or collaboration tools EXCELLENT

JUN 2021 63

Dungeon of the Endless: Apogee

Battles can be fun but you will die a lot. Prepare to be frustrated.

A promising game thwarted by tough luck $7.99 From Playdigious, playdigious.com Made for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch Needs iOS 13.0 or later

D#sxqlvklqj#glĿfxow|#dqg# shupdqhqw#ghdwk#wkdw# hudvhv#|rxu#surjuhvv#fdq# eh#juhdw#dvvhwv#wr#d#jdph1# \rxġuh#irufhg#wr#udslgo|#lpsuryh/# ohduqlqj#qhz#vnloov#dqg#wdfwlfdo# wklqnlqj#dv#|rx#wdnh#rq#hdfk#ohyho1# Hyhu|#wlph#|rx#glh/#|rx#nqrz#lw#zdv# |rxu#rzq#idxow/#|hw#|rx#zdqw#wr#glyh# edfn#lq#dqg#jlyh#lw#dqrwkhu#vkrw1# Gxqjhrq#ri#wkh#Hqgohvv=#Dsrjhh#wulhv# wklv#exw#klwv#vrph#pdmru#kxugohv1 Wkh#jrdo#lv#wr#h{soruh#gxqjhrq# ohyhov#dqg#srzhu#xs#qhz#urrpv1#\rx# wkhq#jr#edfn#wr#wkh#vwduw/#slfn#xs#|rxu# vsdfhvklsġv#fu|vwdo/#dqg#wudqvsruw#lw# wkurxjk#wkh#ohyho#wr#wkh#h{lw#srlqw1#

The art style and music combine beautifully.

64 JUN 2021

Xqsrzhuhg#urrpv#vsdzq#hqhplhv/# dqg#slfnlqj#xs#wkh#fu|vwdo#wuljjhuv# wkhp#wr#vsdzq#djdlq1#Wkh#fkdudfwhu# fduu|lqj#wkh#fu|vwdo#fdqġw#Ľjkw/#vr# |rx#pxvw#uho|#rq#d#uhgxfhg#irufh#wr# vdyh#wkh#gd|/#soxv#dq|#wxuuhwv#|rx# pljkw#kdyh#sodfhg1#Iruwxqdwho|/#|rxu# fkdudfwhuv#Ľjkw#dxwrpdwlfdoo|1 Wkdw#doo#vrxqgv#surplvlqj/#exw# wkhuh#duh#vrph#vhulrxv#sureohpv1#Iru# rqh#wklqj/#lw#fdq#eh#yhu|#uhshwlwlyh1# \rx#kdyh#wr#jr#wkurxjk#wkh#hqwluh# pds#xqorfnlqj#hyhu|#urrp/#wkhq# uhwxuq#edfn#wr#wkh#vwduw#wr#jhw#wkh# fu|vwdo/#wkhq#edfn#djdlq#wr#wdnh#lw# wr#wkh#hqg#srlqw1#Li#|rx#vsdzq#lq# d#sduwlfxoduo|#odujh#duhd/#ru#li#|rx# plvv#d#grru#dorqj#wkh#zd|#+wkh#gdun# oljkwlqj#pdnhv#wklv#kljko|#olnho|,/#lw# ihhov#hyhq#pruh#wluhvrph1 Dqg#wkhq#wkhuh#lv#wkh#lvvxh#ri#oxfn1# Ohyhov#dqg#hqhplhv#duh#surfhgxudoo|# jhqhudwhg/#dqg#li#|rxġuh#xqoxfn|#|rx# jhw#odqghg#lq#d#ode|ulqwklqh#gxqjhrq# ixoo#ri#gdqjhurxv#irhv1#D#pd}hĞolnh# ohyho#phdqv#pruh#urrpv#wr#vsdzq# hqhplhv/#riwhq#pdnlqj#uhdfklqj#wkh# hqg#d#kxjh#vorj1#Orvlqj#hyhu|wklqj# ehfdxvh#ri#|rxu#plvwdnhv#lv#Ľqh/#

orvlqj#ehfdxvh#ri#xqiruwxqdwh#+ru# xquhdvrqdeoh,#pds#jhqhudwlrq#lv# vrphwklqj#hovh1 Wkh#lvvxhv#duh#qrw#frqĽqhg#wr#wkh# jdphsod|1#Wh{w#lv#iuhtxhqwo|#idu#wrr# vpdoo/#zkloh#gldorj#er{hv#vrphwlphv# revfxuh#wh{w#xqghuqhdwk#wkhp1#Prvwo|# wkhvh#duh#vhfrqgdu|#wr#wkh#jdphsod|# luulwdwlrqv/#exw#wkh|ġuh#vwloo#d#sureohp1 Lwġv#d#vkdph/#ehfdxvh#wklv#jdph# kdv#orwv#ri#srwhqwldo1#Lwv#sl{ho#duw#vw|oh# orrnv#jrujhrxv/#wkh#pxvlf#lv#juhdw/# dqg#wkh#jdphsod|#fdq#eh#whqvh#dqg# h{flwlqj1#Exw#zlwk#vr#pdq|#oxfnĞ edvhg#hohphqwv/#lwv#shupdghdwk# iuhtxhqwo|#ihhov#xqidlu1 THE BOTTOM LINE.#Frxog#eh# d#juhdw#jdph/#exw#lwv#lvvxhv#krog#lw# edfn1#ALEX BLAKE DUNGEON OF THE ENDLESS: APOGEE

Beautiful graphics Some fun moments Luck often required Can be repetitive OKAY

Image rights: Amplitude Studios SAS.

Tough testing, trusted ratings

Photo Culling Delete this app, not photos Free (IAPs) From Canon USA, usa.canon.com Made for iPhone, iPod touch Needs iOS 14.0 or later

One current trend we ﬁnd disturbing is how mobile developers push users into a subscription before even having a chance to try an app properly. This approach is more galling when the company is Canon, a celebrated consumer electronics brand. Photo Culling is an AI–powered utility used to prune bad shots from an iPhone photo library. At launch, Canon tries to hard–sell users on a monthly ($2.99) or annual ($14.99) subscription following a measly three–day trial period. Worse yet, it recommends disabling iCloud Photo Library — perhaps the only automatic

backup method for many iOS users. This is terrible advice for an app whose sole mission is to purge images from a device. To be fair, the app does have a slick, eye–catching UI, and artiﬁcial intelligence bases decisions on which images make the cut using key factors such as sharpness, noise, emotion, and closed eyes, each of which can be customized to your liking. Users can limit processing to a speciﬁc album, and the paid version conveniently sorted our recent photos into events like Winter Holidays, Spring Break, and Thanksgiving automatically. Without a subscription, however, the free app is so limited it winds up being

You’re in control of which images get deleted. little more than a mediocre photo viewer. Worse yet, on our iPhone 12 Pro Max with a library of nearly 29,000 photos, navigation was painfully sluggish most of the time, with the app hanging while scrolling or jumping between screens. THE BOTTOM LINE. Barely functional app and deﬁnitely not worth paying for a subscription. JR BOOKWALTER WEAK

DEVONThink To Go 3.0 The organizer for everything Free (IAPs) From Devon Technologies, devontechnologies.com Made for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch Needs iOS/iPadOS 13.0 or later

DEVONThink is a universal inbox to store, organize, and locate data and documents of all kinds: Pages documents and PDFs, web pages and notes, images, and audio. You can turn web pages into Markdown text, use Shortcuts to automatically clip and classify content from other apps, scan printed documents and turn them into editable text and add all kinds of metadata including tags, color coding, annotations, and star ratings. You can also create links between documents in your DEVONThink database. Once you’ve got the data in — which you can do from the Share sheet in apps

Image rights from top: Canon USA, DEVONtechnologies.

or from Files — it’s easy to view by tag, kind, date, or other criteria. Everything is searchable too. The same share sheet you use to add content to DEVONThink To Go can also open documents in other apps, so for example you can open and edit your Markdown in Ulysses. If you’re already a v2 user there are some useful improvements here: a new, faster, and more reliable encrypted iCloud sync; Dark Mode; support for multiple windows and pointing devices on iPad; uniﬁed inboxes, tags, and trash groups; faster searching; improved Markdown support; and more personalization options.

DEVONThink can handle all kinds of ﬁle formats and can annotate, highlight, and sign PDFs. DEVONThink To Go was already a very impressive document and data manager, and version 3’s improvements make it even better. Whether used in isolation or in sync with the Mac app, this is excellent. THE BOTTOM LINE. DEVONThink To Go is extremely powerful and usable. CARRIE MARSHALL AWESOME

JUN 2021 65

>>> App Life

6 apps to take the pain out of parenting Make raising your kid child’s play with these tools

BABYSPARKS Free (IAPs) From babysparks.com Made for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch

These days, you don’t need to be a parenting expert to excel at raising your children. Aside from all the classes, books, and other resources available to you, there is an ocean of top–notch apps that make the whole process a little smoother. Whether you’ve just welcomed a new member into your family or

are looking for a helping hand with a young child, there are plenty of apps that can help. This issue, we have focused on six of the best, ranging from early years helpers packed with advice to useful monitors that protect your kids from unsuitable content. Let’s take a closer look… ALEX BLAKE

No one can ever be 100% prepared for raising a child, but BabySparks can help ﬁll in the gaps. It learns your baby’s needs and creates a daily play program so you can foster their development across a range of areas, from language and cognition to emotional and motor skills. There are tools to measure your baby’s progress and helpful articles, too.

THE WONDER WEEKS $3.99 (IAPs) From thewonderweeks.com Made for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch

COZI FAMILY ORGANIZER Free (IAPs) From cozi.com Made for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch

QUSTODIO Free (IAPs) From qustodio.com Made for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch

When you have children, what was once an orderly household can quickly descend into chaos. Chores need to be assigned, meals planned, groceries bought, and much more. Cozi is an all–in–one family calendar and organizer that brings together everyone’s schedules into one place, ensuring you know exactly what’s on your plate for the days ahead.

When your child gets their ﬁrst phone, you might be worried about the type of content they’re accessing and the amount of time they’re spending on their device. Banish those fears with Qustodio, an app that puts you in control. You can restrict what they see and for how long, protect them against inappropriate content, and even ﬁnd their location.

Raising a baby can be tough if you don’t know what’s causing them to be upset. This app can help you understand why it happens and what you can do. The app is also there to guide your child’s development and acquisition of new abilities. It is an essential tool to helping your baby progress and learn new skills.

66 JUN 2021

Image rights clockwise from top: BabySparks, Qustodio, Cozi, The Wonder Weeks.

Tough testing, trusted ratings

ABCMOUSE.COM Free (IAPs) From abcmouse.com Made for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch As your child gets older, their developmental needs change — which is where ABCmouse.com comes in. Designed for kids aged 2–8, ABCmouse offers a huge range of educational activities and games designed to improve your child’s skills in math, art, science, literacy, and more. Kids can see their own progress and have fun along the way.

MOSHI Free (IAPs) From moshisleep.com Made for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch At the end of a long day it’s important for both you and your child to get a good night’s sleep, and the Moshi app is perfect for that. Dip into its library of audio stories and music narrated by the likes of Patrick Stewart and Goldie Hawn, or try its sleep sounds and white noise that are tailor–made to help your child relax. When your child sleeps better, you sleep better.

Image rights from top: Age of Learning, Mind Candy.

JUN 2021 67

>>> Best of

Best of the best Can’t ﬁnd the hardware or app you’re looking for in our reviews section? Then check in here — we’ve highlighted the best in every major category, as voted for by us

NEW!

> HARDWARE CATEGORY

PRODUCT

WEB

PRICE

MESH ROUTER

Zyxel Multy U

zyxel.com

$269.99 AC2100, 3 nodes, tri–band, MU–MIMO

4K USB–C MONITOR

BenQ EW3280U

benq.com

$799.99 32–inch 4K IPS, HDR, USB–C, 65W charging

THUNDERBOLT DOCK

Brydge Stone Pro

brydge.com

$239.99 11 ports, 87W power supply, dual display

KEYBOARD

Logitech MX Keys For Mac

logitech.com

$99.99

Backlighting, number pad, USB–C

PRINTER

Epson Expression Photo HD

epson.com

$349.99

Wide–format, wireless printing, 200 capacity

EXTERNAL HDD

iStorage diskAshur M2

istorage-uk.com

$169

7-15 digit PIN, IP68 rated, shockproof

NAS DEVICE

WD My Cloud Pro PR2100

wdc.com

$399.99 Up to 20TB, 4GB RAM, 2x Gigabit Ethernet

Qi CHARGER

Belkin BOOSTCHARGE TrueFreedom Pro belkin.com

$129.99

HEADPHONES

Bose NC700

bose.com

$399.95 10 noise–cancelling steps, 20 hours battery

IN–EAR HEADPHONES Apple AirPods Pro

apple.com

$249

SECURITY CAMERA

EufyCam 2C (two–pack kit)

eufylife.com

$239.99 Battery–powered, ﬂoodlight, local storage

SMART SPEAKER

HomePod mini

apple.com

$99

360–degree sound, stereo pair, AirPlay 2

21.5–INCH MONITOR

Dell P2219HC

dell.com

$149.99

1920x1080, IPS, HDMI, 2x DisplayPort, USB–C

68 JUN 2021

FEATURES

2x 10W charging, supports 3mm thick case

Noise–cancelling, wireless charging case

Image rights from left to right: Doist Ltd, Silvio Rizzi.

> iOS APPS CATEGORY

PRODUCT

WEB

PRICE

NEEDS

TO DO (PRODUCTIVITY)

Things 3

culturedcode.com

$9.99

iOS 10 or later

WRITING

Scrivener

literatureandlatte.com

$19.99

iOS 9 or later

Spark

sparkmailapp.com

Free

iOS 10 or later

PHOTO EDITOR

Pixelmator for iPad

pixelmator.com

$4.99

iOS 11 or later

VIDEO EDITOR

LumaFusion 2.0

luma-touch.com

$14.99

iOS 11 or later

CAMERA

FiLMiC Firstlight

ﬁlmicpro.com

$7.99

iOS 13 or later

RSS READER

Reeder 5

reeder.app

$4.99

iOS 14 or later

IDEAS ORGANIZER

OmniOutliner3

omnigroup.com

Free (IAPs)

iOS 11.2 or later

NOTE–TAKING

Notability 10

gingerlabs.com

$8.99

iOS 12 or later

MIND–MAPPING

MindNode 6

mindnode.com

$14.99

iOS 11 or later

DOCUMENT SCANNER

Prizmo 5

creaceed.com

Free (IAPs)

iOS 12.2 or later

CALENDAR

Fantastical 3

ﬂexibits.com

$4.99/month

iOS 13 or later

WEATHER

Carrot Weather 5

meetcarrot.com

$4.99/month

iOS 13 or later

WEB

PRICE

NEEDS

> macOS APPS CATEGORY

PRODUCT

TO DO (PRODUCTIVITY)

Todoist

todoist.com

$35.99/year

OS X 10.11 or later

WRITING

Ulysses 21

ulysses.app

$49.99/year

macOS 10.14.4 or later

Canary Mail 2

canarymail.io

$19.99

OS X 10.10 or later

PHOTO EDITOR

Afﬁnity Photo

afﬁnity.serif.com

$49.99

OS X 10.7 or later

VIDEO EDITOR

Final Cut Pro

apple.com

$299.99

macOS 10.13 or later

SCREEN CAPTURE

ScreenFlow 9

telestream.net

$129.00

macOS 10.12 or later

MUSIC CREATION

Logic Pro X

apple.com

$199.99

macOS 10.12 or later

FILE ORGANIZER

ForkLift 3

binarynights.com

$29.95

OS X 10.11 or later

DESKTOP PUBLISHING

Adobe InDesign

adobe.com

$20.99 (p/m)

macOS 10.13 or later

BACKUP

Carbon Copy Cloner

bombich.com

$39.99

OS X 10.10 or later

VIRTUALIZATION

Parallels Desktop 16

parellels.com

$79.99

macOS 10.13 or later

TIME–TRACKING

Tyme 3

tyme-app.com

$3.99/month

macOS 10.13.2 or later

PERSONAL FINANCE

Quicken

quicken.com

$34.99 (1 year) OS X 10.11 or later

JUN 2021 69

>>> Home Life

HOME LIFE BETTER LIVING THROUGH SMARTER TECHNOLOGY

HOW TO GET SMART IN THE GARDEN BY ALEX COX

The smart home has well and truly escaped the bounds of its traditional four walls and is taking over your yard hose of us lucky enough to have gardens have become intimately attached to them in this past year. The yard has become more than just a patch of grass, it’s a viable room in its own right, with all the modern conveniences we’ve come to expect. It should come as no surprise that the burgeoning smart home is expanding outward into this new room at pace, uhdg|#wr#rļhu#|rx#vpduwhu# garden management, better connectivity, and a host of new kit to tie into your existing routines. If you’re committed to your outdoor space you can hyhq#Ľqg#ixooĞrq#hqwhuwdlqphqw# rigs ready and raring to annoy your neighbors as you put your feet up on the patio.

70 JUN 2021

GO, GO, ROBO MOW Smart mowers may be the big headline grabbers of the smart garden world, but don’t be so hasty to presume that a urerĞprzhu#lv#d#ģgurs#rq#|rxu# lawn and go” solution. There are d#orw#ri#idfwruv#Ľjkwlqj#djdlqvw# automated grass management, not least of which is your lawn itself. Let’s consider the way a Roomba (other vacuum bots are available) navigates inside your home to work out why: they can barely deal with scaling the edge of a rug, can’t even consider stairs, and wouldn’t be too happy with an undulating surface. Vacuum bots use cameras, lasers, and bump sensors to pick out the edges of a room and map it — that is all comparatively easy compared to what a robot is likely to face in your garden.

Lawns vary massively, light levels constantly change, and Ľqglqj#wkh#glļhuhqfh#ehwzhhq# a path, border, and stretch of grass requires advanced smarts, or at least a good memory. Generally, you’ll need to pdqxdoo|#gholqhdwh#wkh#glļhuhqw# parts of your garden to help the robot, usually by installing a perimeter wire, which can be rather unsightly. Some newer models have begun employing humidity sensors to detect the glļhuhqfh#ehwzhhq#judvv#dqg# stone, but the similar humidity between soil and grass means these can’t usually work out where a border begins, and your begonias will get a chopping without also employing a wire. GPS location is another option on wider lawns, as long as you’re qrw#orrnlqj#iru#xowudĞdffxudwh#

Smart gardens

> Smart security options

Igloohome Smart Padlock $109.99, igloohome.co Secure your shed or side gate with the smartest padlock around. It’s a mix of super security and ultimate cleverness, and you can even use your phone to generate one–time passcodes for guests.

Eufycam 2C $239.99, eufylife.com

Husqvarna’s higher–end grass– munching bots can easily manage a fairly signiﬁcant slope.

hgjhĞwrĞhgjh#fryhudjh1#Prghuq# GPS has the potential to be lqfkĞdffxudwh/#exw#lw#qhhgv#wkh# right conditions and a prevailing wind. Trees and buildings near your garden are going to chop that accuracy down. It might seem like we’re being overly negative towards smart mowers, so we should point out that they’re really not all that bad — it’s just worth thinking of the potential issues before your new outdoor robot hurls itself into your pool. There are some truly excellent models out there: wkh#Vwlko#lPrz#UPL#755#S#+durxqg#

$1,670) has been making waves in the low-cost sector and can keep your lawn trim with 17 krxuvġ#zrun#shu#zhhn1#Lwġv#vhoiĞ charging, so it should get the job done with the minimum of fuss, though it does require you to permanently install its charging dock somewhere on the same level as your lawn. If you want to get slightly smarter, Husqvarna’s Automower 315X ($1,799) adds smart connectivity and handles slopes with aplomb, and its Dxwrprzhu#768[#DZG#+'7/:<<,# can get up a 70% gradient with its all-wheel-drive wheels.

Image rights clockwise from top–left: Husqvarna, igloocompany, Eufy, Fibaro Group.

Compatible with HomeKit Secure Video and (against the competition) quite reasonably priced, Eufy’s camera system is the perfect way to monitor visitors to your garden — human or beast.

Fibaro Door/ Window Sensor 2 $39.99, fibaro.com OK, technically it’s not one for your garden, but if someone does make an attempt at bringing the outside in you’ll get an alert to your phone. Why not trigger a security routine, too?

JUN 2021 71

>>> Home Life

> Plan a party

Meater+

JBL Charge 5

Nebula Capsule II

$99, meater.com

$TBC, jbl.com

$579.99, seenebula.com

We keep coming back to the smart Meater thermometer here because it’s the best way to get perfectly cooked BBQ food. That said, it does take away the fun of being grill–vigilant, tongs in hand, at all times.

JBL’s successor to the Charge 4 will be landing right as we go to press — but if it’s anything like its predecessor you’re in for a weatherproof audio treat. Loud, bassy, perfectly portable, with a battery that lasts.

Why not beam a movie onto your wall? The Capsule II is battery powered, portable, and capable of focusing a 720p image up to 100–inches across. It’s not super–bright, though, so wait until the sun goes down.

WET AND WILD Ri#frxuvh/#li#|rx#zdqw#|rxu#odzq#wr# stay green as well as groomed, you’ll suredeo|#qhhg#wr#rļhu#lw#vrph#zdwhu# now and then. This is another area where we encourage you to exercise a little caution; there are a number of smart watering systems on the market, but (without mentioning any particular examples) they’re often a little pointless. Sure, they

can sense the weather and activate when they think your lawn might need a little refreshment, but that’s about as far as their smart functions extend, and many have left the market over the years because they’ve not proven popular. You, we are sure, are able to sense the weather for yourself, and switch on your sprinkler when you think your lawn needs it, and basic mechanical

zdwhu#wlphuv#duh#hļhfwlyh#hqrxjk# when you’re away from home. That said, there is one strong option for automated irrigation in the form of the Eve Aqua ($99.95). It ties into HomeKit, which is a big plus, unless you’re primarily using d#glļhuhqw#vpduw#krph#v|vwhp1#Lw# bests its rivals by dint of its ability to eh#wlhg#lqwr#ixooĞeorzq#vpduw#krph# urxwlqhv#Ğ#xvlqj#dq#rxwgrru#zhdwkhu# station, for example, you could potentially build a function which turns on your sprinklers after a certain number of dry days. Li#|rxġg#olnh#d#pruh#vshflĽf#orrn#dw# what your plants are doing, there’s a Bluetooth plant monitor coming out of China which can check moisture levels in the soil, nutrient levels, temperature, and light levels. The exact same product is available under d#exqfk#ri#glļhuhqw#jhqhulf#eudqg# qdphv#ğ#Zdqihl/#YhjWuxj/#Edlqxrmld# et al — at somewhere in the region of $35; we’d expect the device to be functional if not spectacular.

Bright night While some other smart lighting brands stick sensibly to the inside of your home, and others (like LIFX) make only slight excursions to the outdoors, Philips Hue has really cemented its outdoor expansion recently with a wide range of new outdoor bulbs and illuminators. Philips runs its own low voltage system to the garden, which allows you to daisychain together certain products for easy installation. And new devices like the (rumored, at press time) Hue Wave Linear (which feels an awful lot like an outdoor version of the Hue Play Bar) can sensibly take advantage of it. Note that you’ll often ﬁnd the Bluetooth option missing from Hue’s

72 JUN 2021

outdoor bulbs, which does make sense; while it’s a neat addition to its newer indoor hardware, you’re not likely to want to wander all over your garden turning things on and off when a simple Zigbee message passed along the line of lights would to the trick. So make sure you have a bridge.

You don’t have to light up your garden like a clown’s dream. But you can.

WATCH THE SKIES As far as weather monitoring goes, we’ve looked at the Netatmo Smart Zhdwkhu#Vwdwlrq#Lqgrru#Rxwgrru# ($179.99) in these pages before, wkrxjk#lw#pd|#kdyh#kdg#d#glļhuhqw# name at the time because Netatmo

Image rights clockwise from top–left: Meater & Apption Labs, Harman, Nebula, Koninklijke Philips NV.

Smart gardens

Patio power It’s fully possible to transform your patio into a second lounge. We’ll leave the comfy seating choices up to you, but for entertainment Samsung has you covered. Its 2020 range introduced the Terrace TV, an IP55– rated 4K HDR screen built to be mounted on an outside wall. The Terrace isn’t cheap (the 55–inch model is $3,499, while the largest

can’t seem to decide what its products are called. It remains one of the best choices you can make for local monitoring. It’s fully HomeKit compatible, as well as working with Alexa, and feeds into a beautiful and highly useable app. You can also tack on extras like a wind meter or rain gauge, as well as additional outdoor modules, all of which tie into its kljkĞhqg#dhvwkhwlf#qlfho|1 There are others out there that rļhu#d#zlghu#udqjh#ri#ihdwxuhv1# Indeed, there’s a vast hobbyist community for weather monitoring, packing in features like integrated cameras, solar power, and consistent ZlĞIl#ru#fhooxodu#frqqhfwlylw|#zklfk# enables you to stream your weather data online. You can even contribute wr#d#k|shuĞorfdo#iruhfdvwlqj#vhuylfh# olnh#Zhdwkhu#Xqghujurxqg/#dqg# help those who aren’t so lucky to have a weather station or perhaps even a garden to see what conditions are going to be like.

Netatmo’s Weather Station’s indoor and outdoor modules provide stats from all around the home.

Image rights clockwise from top–left: Samsung, Respira, Netatmo.

Realistically, we’d stand on the other side of the grill if we wanted to watch the TV. 75–inch edition costs $6,499) and it doesn’t sound great (you’ll probably need to shell out for Samsung’s tie–in Terrace Soundbar, $1,199) but it is, at least, an outdoor TV. If you have a “little” more to spend, try the LED– driven C Seed 301. You’ll need a big

You may even be able to get away without a weather sensor at all. Consider using a smart camera like wkh#Eolqn#Rxwgrru#+'<<1<<,/#zklfk# qrw#rqo|#rļhuv#d#slqĞvkdus#ylhz#ri# your garden whenever you need it, be that for security purposes or to check xs#rq#|rxu#urerĞprzhu/#exw#lw#dovr# incorporates its own integrated temperature sensor. It’s all about constructing the ecosystem that works for you. BRING THE OUTSIDE IN Even if you don’t have a garden to fdoo#|rxu#rzq/#|rx#fdq#jhw#|rxu#Ľ{#ri# the natural world indoors thanks to a wide range of smart indoor gardens. Some are more focused on producing edibles, things like herbs and leafy greens, which you can enjoy fresh from the plant. The most prominent examples come from Click and Grow, zkrvh#Vpduw#Jdughq#6#+durxqg#'453,# is small enough to sit on a kitchen frxqwhu/#xvlqj#hqhuj|ĞhĿflhqw#OHG# grow lights and automated watering to get your plants (supplied in capsule form, like a slightly greener frļhh#pdfklqh,#jurzlqj#ixvvĞiuhh1# The company also produces the larger Smart Garden 9 (around '573,/#zklfk#wulsohv#wkh#srvvleoh# sodqwlqj/#dqg#rļhuv#wkh#Vpduw# Jdughq#5:#+durxqg#':53,#zklfk#lv# edvlfdoo|#mxvw#wkuhh#ri#wkh#qlqhĞ capsule modules stacked up on a wooden plant stand.

garden, both to accommodate its fold–out–of–the–ﬂoor mechanism and because it’s 301 inches corner–to– corner. The Austrian–made luxury screen costs around $1.5 million!

You won’tt forget about your houseplants when they’re attached to Respira’s imposing appliance — you won’t need to water them yourself, either. Another option is the Respira, a vertical hydroponic garden which doesn’t use soil. Instead, it pulls air over the exposed roots of its plants where, to quote the company, ģehqhĽfldo#plfurrujdqlvpv#fdswxuh# and break down toxins in the air.” It can also help improve the humidity of dry homes, and there are obvious mental health advantages to having a big wall of pretty plants. The only issue is getting hold of one as it has only just left the Kickstarter phase, but keep an eye on respira.ca for news of distribution and pricing. So whichever way you get your zen, be it indoors, outdoors, green thumb or clean thumb, there’s a smart option for you. And don’t forget the power of smart outdoor oljkwlqj#+vhh#ģEuljkw#qljkw/Ĥ#dqg# we’ll cover this more in future issues) to upgrade the looks of even the most pedestrian garden.

JUN 2021 73

ASK

Email Mac|Life at ask@maclife.com

TECH SUPPORT & TECHSPLANATIONS

Hot topics right now Make sure you check out these important support articles on Apple’s website to better understand the latest features.

SECRET STARTUP FOR APPLE SILICON MACS When you start up your M1 Mac and hold down on the power button for 10 seconds, a startup screen will appear with several options. From here you can reinstall macOS and more — ﬁnd out about it here: bit.ly/ml181ask1.

EMAIL PROBLEMS USING THE MAIL APP? Are you encountering issues sending or receiving email, even if your internet connection is working properly? The status icon in Mail might hint at why, or it could be a problem with your email provider.

> Starting an M1 Mac from an external drive What’s the best way to install Big Sur on an external SSD for my M1 MacBook Pro?

This isn’t easy, as Apple’s installers don’t yet support all drives connected to M1 models. You’re most likely to succeed with an expensive Thunderbolt drive, a good USB–C model, or one connected through an external dock. Download the Big Sur installer app through the Mac App Store, or if you’ve got a fast internet connection you can perform this in Recovery mode using Disk Utility there to format the SSD ﬁrst. Unlike Intel Macs, M1 models always begin starting up from internal storage, and that’s what provides Recovery mode too. Installing macOS on an external drive is therefore

different and more complex than with an Intel model. Some errors you could encounter don’t yet have workarounds, and for now some SSDs can’t be set up as bootable at all. Articles at bit.ly/mac364m1macs provide latest info. At present, once you’ve installed macOS on an external drive it may not be able to install macOS updates using Software Update. Those have to be performed when started up from the external drive, and the only alternative is to back up, install a copy of the new version, and restore your data to that. Until these problems are ﬁxed, using external bootable drive with M1 Macs remains experimental.

Not all external SSDs can get to the last phase of installing Big Sur from an M1 model, and may fail to restart correctly.

bit.ly/ml181ask2.

REDUCE WIRELESS INTERFERENCE Find out why this happens, how it affects your Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and what you can do to reduce it: bit.ly/ml181ask3.

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Image rights: Apple.

Tech Support & Techsplanations

Get ofﬁcial documentation at support.apple.com | Get help with hardware at support.apple.com/repair

> Password security Should I change all passwords that my iPhone reports as being potentially compromised, or is it being overcautious?

Checking the security of your passwords is new to iOS 14, and currently its only documentation is limited to bit.ly/mac364iospwds. It’s accessed in Settings, through Passwords > Security Recommendations, where you’ll find a list of stored passwords which could be vulnerable for a range of different reasons. Apple doesn’t explain where it gets its lists of potentially compromised passwords from, but these are quite widely accessible through sites such as Have I Been Pwned? at haveibeenpwned.com/ Passwords. For each entry, iOS gives a basic explanation as to why it considers using that particular password isn’t advisable, then provides options for you to change that password on its website, or delete it. Passwords checked include all in your keychain, which is likely to be more than used by Safari, and is sure to include many old and disused ones which you’d probably forgotten about. When you get a chance, work steadily through its Compromised passwords for sensitive list, deleting those which aren’t external services should be changed or used any more to bring order to deleted, but others may not be as risky. your keychain, but note that there’s no undo option. as the password protecting your Apple ID Not all passwords need to be completely and iCloud. You may also need to enter some secure. Think of what each protects: if it’s just manually, in which case they need to be access to the private section of a website, that memorable and easily typed in. doesn’t need to be as robust and hacker–proof

Image rights: Apple.

Quick–fire questions & answers HOW CAN I TURN OFF ACTIVATION LOCK ON MY iPHONE? The way to do this is changing, and currently depends on where in the world you are. In the United States, Apple now provides an online self–service system at bit.ly/mac364 activlock1. For other countries, you can enter the system with its guidance through bit.ly/ mac364activlock3. HOW TO MINIMIZE APP UPDATES WHEN MY DEVICE IS USING MOBILE DATA? Open Settings, then App Store. Disable Automatic Downloads there, and set the App Downloads option to read Always Ask. This ensures that when there are updates available, you will always be free to postpone or decline them until your phone is back on a Wi–Fi network.

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>>> Ask

ERROR WHEN INSTALLING A PACKAGE? This is most probably because the developer who built that Installer package didn’t notarize it correctly. You may still be able to open it using the Open command in the Finder. Please tell the developer so that they can get this right, as it affects all who install that on recent versions of macOS. HOW DO I MUTE THE STARTUP CHIME? For Intel and Apple silicon Macs, this is controlled in NVRAM settings. In Big Sur, use the Sound pane, where there’s a checkbox control. On older macOS, open Terminal and type the command sudo nvram StartupMute=%01 At the following prompt, enter your admin password.

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Mojave converts your startup drive to Apple’s new ﬁle system, which is likely to impair performance if that’s a hard drive.

> Upgrading an iMac with a hard drive Would it be wise to upgrade my iMac 21.5–inch Late 2012 from macOS Sierra, which it runs sweetly, to Mojave or later?

Your two greatest considerations are your iMac’s internal storage and which apps you use. If it has an internal hard drive, then mandatory conversion of that to APFS format would impair its performance signiﬁcantly and be disruptive. If your iMac has an SSD instead, then upgrading is likely to improve performance, as the new ﬁle system is designed for SSDs. Fusion Drives are somewhere between and depend on usage and the size of the SSD part of the drive. Check the versions of the apps you have installed. Mojave still runs older 32–bit apps, and Adobe CS6 remains usable for most. But

later versions of macOS don’t run anything 32–bit; that would make it necessary to take out a subscription to Adobe’s replacement CC suite, for example. Similar considerations apply to Microsoft’s Ofﬁce suite. If all your important apps can be updated to run on one, it may make sense to keep your iMac as it is and get a new M1 model as well. An M1 Mac mini with a modest display can be quite inexpensive, and give you a system that’s far faster and more capable in the future. It would let you move progressively and minimize your trauma. Because Time Machine has also changed a lot, you’ll want to plan to keep both Macs backed up to separate drives.

Image rights: Apple.

Tech Support & Techsplanations

Before parting with your old Mac, enter Recovery mode, format its storage, and reinstall macOS for its new user.

> Preparing to pass on your Mac I’ve removed most of the data from my old iMac, which I’m giving to a relative. What do I do next to prepare it for them?

Ensure you have good backups of its contents, and deauthorize any apps and iTunes accounts. Sign out of iCloud on that Mac, and allow time for all iCloud data to be removed from it. Next, sign out of your account in Prefs in Messages. The ﬁnal step is to erase its internal storage and pre–install macOS ready for its new user, which you must perform with it connected to the internet. Start it up in remote Recovery mode, holding the Cmd, Opt, and R keys. Open Disk Utility there, select the startup disk, and

click on the Erase tool. Set security options to erase free space, where available, choosing a level between the extremes for a balance between speed and security. Quit Disk Utility and select Reinstall macOS. Your Mac will then download and install the latest compatible version of macOS. When it reaches the start of the customization phase, displaying a list of countries, press Cmd+Q and shut it down. Once its new owner starts it, they can then resume setting it up as its new user.

> Is my new macOS compromised? Having just upgraded to Big Sur 11.2 from Catalina, all Apple’s apps and system ﬁles bear the same date of 1 January 2020. Is that right, or is my system compromised?

That’s correct, and one of several oddities which you’ll discover in Big Sur. These arise because it’s no longer just a mass of files in a System volume, but what you’re seeing are the contents of a file system snapshot of a volume which isn’t even mounted. This new Sealed System Volume is created whenever macOS is installed or updated. Once its files have been installed, a cryptographic “hash” or checksum is calculated for them. More hashes are calculated for those hashes, and so on up to where there’s a single hash known as the Seal, which guarantees their overall integrity. Within that, dates of creation and modification are of little value, as the hashes verify integrity. Using a single common date and

Image rights: Apple.

time of creation for all ﬁles makes it easier to maintain the system through revisions and updates, as only changes to the contents will result in a different hash. Whenever you start up macOS, the Seal is checked against a standard value provided by Apple. If it doesn’t match perfectly, macOS won’t run, and the Mac is put into Recovery mode for macOS to be reinstalled. This then gives you total conﬁdence in the integrity of macOS in Big Sur.

WHY CAN’T SPOTLIGHT SEARCH FIND RICH TEXT FILES? In a late version of Catalina, probably 10.15.6, a bug was introduced to the importer code which crunches RTF files to add to the indexes used by Spotlight. Although other data such as the file name are put into those indexes, none of the content is, and Spotlight cannot find text content in those files. Apple hasn’t fixed this yet, and the only workaround is to use RTFD format instead, because that isn’t so affected by the bug. HOW TO INSTALL BIG SUR ON iMAC’S EXTERNAL SSD? This is simpler on Intel models. Download the Big Sur installer app through the App Store and Software Update. Format your SSD in APFS using Disk Utility as needed. Run the installer, selecting your external disk as its destination. If your Mac has a T2 chip, you’ll also need to change its security settings in Recovery mode before it can start up from any external drive.

Bundled apps and other ﬁles on Big Sur’s new sealed System volume all bear the same date of 1 January 2020.

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>>> Ask

WHY IS GOOGLE EARTH PRO ALWAYS CRASHING? Although Google ensures most of its apps are regularly updated, the Earth Pro app often falls behind. The current version, which should be at least 7.3, is available from bit.ly/mac364gep. HOW TO RECOVER TRACKS FROM AN OLD iPOD? iTunes and now Music, and the Finder, still support some iPods. To find out whether yours is included, connect it and see if it opens in either of those apps or, in recent versions of macOS, in the Finder. If not, try an older Mac and macOS. HOW TO SEARCH FOR MESSAGES IN MY MAIL MAILBOXES? In Catalina and later, Spotlight mailbox search is limited to the Mail app, and searches in the Finder can’t return your messages, although they may find raw messages. Third–party apps which work around this include HoudahSpot, a powerful Spotlight search tool, and Nisus InfoClick, which is dedicated to Mail search. HOW TO FIND DIFFERENCES IN TWO LARGE TEXT FILES? Good text editors support this. In BBEdit’s Search menu, the Find Differences… command can open huge files in a window with three panes, displaying matching sections of each file side by side, and a list of differences at the foot.

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Use the LINEST formula to get full detail of a linear regression, which returns multiple results in an array.

Add a trendline to a 2D Scatter chart for a linear regression, which can also show the line’s equation.

> Trend or regression lines in Numbers Can Numbers perform linear regressions?

Not only can Numbers do this simply, but it performs non–linear regression, with basic and more detailed options. The quick and dirty way is to select two columns of X and Y values and create a 2D Scatter chart from them. In the Format sidebar, select the Series tab and choose one of the Trendlines, which offer both Linear and several non–linear regression lines. It

will even display the equation and R^2 (R squared) value using the checkboxes below. To access numerical values for the gradient and Y–intercept elsewhere, use its more formal formulae of SLOPE and INTERCEPT on the same two columns of data. For standard error, sums of squares, and other values in addition to slope and intercept, use LINEST to return an array.

> Migrating playlists to Catalina I’m moving from my old Mac to a new one running macOS Catalina. How do I ensure that the upgrade will preserve all my old playlists?

Using Migration Assistant to move your music library should convert its contents, including all playlists, so they’re fully functional in the Music app. Many users have found their playlists don’t work as well as they should, so it’s worth preparing just in case. On your old Mac, open iTunes and export all your playlists by going to File > Library > Export Playlist… Keep those safe, and

use only copies of those originals. Then perform the migration to your new Mac. If the new Mac is missing music or playlists, copy your original iTunes Library to a location accessible to that Mac. Hold the Opt key when opening the Music app to browse to your original iTunes Library and try upgrading it again. Sometimes deleting the ﬁle at Music/Music/Music Library beforehand in your Home folder can help. If it doesn’t, try importing iTunes Music Library.XML if that exists. If your library has migrated correctly but you’re still missing playlists, turn to those you exported from your old Mac and, in Music, go to File > Library > Import Playlist… to restore them individually. Other more complex solutions are detailed at bit.ly/mac364itunesxml.

Image rights from left to right: Bare Bones Software Inc ,Apple.

Tech Support & Techsplanations

> Sharing the family Photos album I’m about to start scanning thousands of old family photos, and want to put them in a Photos library to share over our home network. Will that work?

This is an excellent time to get this done, given the diminishing supply of and support for scanners. There are good tools to enhance and retouch scanned images, but sharing them over a network is more of a problem. So long as you’re working with thousands not hundreds of thousands of images, Photos is a natural ﬁrst choice, but it isn’t designed to work with networked libraries. The other alternative, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, is even more stringent and doesn’t work with fully networked libraries at all, only local ones. The next step up is a content management system, which is designed to be networked, but is considerably more expensive and complex.

The danger with Photos Libraries is that two or more users could simultaneously modify their contents, something that the Photos app isn’t designed to handle, and may give unpredictable results. Provided that only one user makes changes at a time, and others just browse, it can work, though. You can make this process easier, and solve issues of library size, by storing images in more than one library. Photos can only open one at a time (see bit.ly/ mac364photosmove). You could share images using iCloud Photos, which is designed for multiple users, but that isn’t efﬁcient when the users are on a single local network, and can cost a lot in storage.

Essential support articles Our advice may refer to the following features; check out the support articles linked below for full instructions. macOS RECOVERY The Recovery system contains tools to help you look up info online when macOS won’t start, and to repair or reinstall the system. Learn more at bit.ly/mlrecovery. SAFE MODE When you start your Mac in Safe mode, macOS performs extra checks and stops certain third– party software from running. See how to use it at bit.ly/mlsafemode. RESET SMC & NVRAM These features handle low–level functions and store key settings for your Mac, respectively. Resetting them can ﬁx various issues described at bit.ly/mlresetsmc and bit.ly/mlresetnvram.

When building big collections of images, it’s often best to divide them across several Photos libraries to limit their size.

SHARE WITH US! Image rights: Apple.

HARDWARE ISSUES Your Mac includes tools that check for certain hardware issues without going to a Genius Bar. For Macs introduced in June 2013 or later, see bit.ly/mldiag, otherwise see bit.ly/mlahwt.

EMAIL: ask@maclife.com FACEBOOK: facebook.com/maclife TWITTER: twitter.com/maclife

JUN 2021 79

CREATE HOW TO DO ANYTHING ON YOUR MAC, iPHONE & iPAD

Notiﬁcation Center in Big Sur Master widgets and notiﬁcations to keep yourself organized on your Mac REQUIRES macOS 11 or later YOU WILL LEARN How to use the Notification Center and desktop widgets in macOS Big Sur IT WILL TAKE 10 minutes

WHEN APPLE FIRST launched macOS Big Sur in 2020, it overhauled the way the QrwlĽfdwlrq#Fhqwhu#zrunv# rq#|rxu#Pdf1#Suhylrxvo|/#wklv#zdv#glylghg# ehwzhhq#wkh#Wrgd|#ylhz/#zklfk#krxvhg# |rxu#wdvnv#dqg#zlgjhwv/#dqg#QrwlĽfdwlrqv/# zklfk#lv#zkhuh#dss#dohuwv#zhqw#li#|rx# glvplvvhg#wkhp#iurp#|rxu#ghvnwrs1#Zlwk# pdfRV#Elj#Vxu/#Dssoh#phujhg#wkh#wzr# vhfwlrqv#lqwr#rqh1

GENIUS TIP Click Notifications in System Preferences. Choose an app and allow notifications, then check or uncheck the checkbox for “Show in Notification Center.”

80 JUN 2021

Widgets can be dragged into any position you want in the Notiﬁcation Center. Many widgets have different sizes displaying differing amounts of information.

Wklv#pdnhv#|rxu#qrwlĽfdwlrqv#dqg# zlgjhwv#d#orw#pruh#vwuhdpolqhg#exw#pd|# wdnh#vrph#jhwwlqj#xvhg#wr#li#|rx#duh# dffxvwrphg#wr#wkh#wzr#vhfwlrqv#ehlqj# vhsdudwh1#Krzhyhu/#lw#dovr#eohqgv#lq#d#orw# ehwwhu#wr#|rxu#Pdf#lqwhuidfh/#erwk#e|# lpsurylqj#wkh#orrn#ri#wkh#zkroh# QrwlĽfdwlrq#Fhqwhu#dqg#lqwurgxflqj# wklqjv#olnh#qrwlĽfdwlrq#vwdfnv/#zklfk# vdyh#vsdfh#dqg#ghfoxwwhu#|rxu#ghvnwrs1 Zlgjhwv#kdyh#ehhq#lq#pdfRV#iru#d#zkloh# qrz/#exw#wkh|#zhuh#jlyhq#d#qhz#ohdvh#ri# olih#wkdqnv#wr#wkhlu#lqwurgxfwlrq#rqwr#wkh# iPhone and iPad with iOS 14 and iPadOS 471#Rq#wkh#Pdf/#|rx#fdq#qrz#srvlwlrq# zlgjhwv#qh{w#wr#hdfk#rwkhu#rq#d#vlqjoh# urz/#dgg#lq#glļhuhqw#vl}hv#ri#wkh#vdph# widget, and more. Wklv#wxwruldo#zloo#wdnh#|rx#wkurxjk# wkh#edvlfv#ri#xvlqj#QrwlĽfdwlrq#Fhqwhu# dqg#zlgjhwv#lq#pdfRV#Elj#Vxu/#dv#zhoo# dv#vrph#wlsv#rq#krz#wr#jr#d#olwwoh#ghhshu# dqg#fxvwrpl}h#wklv#wrro#wr#vxlw#|rx#ehvw1# E|#wkh#hqg/#|rx#vkrxog#kdyh#d#jrrg#judvs# ri#doo#wkh#qhz#ihdwxuhv#dqg#wrrov#lq#pdfRV# Elj#Vxuġv#QrwlĽfdwlrq#Fhqwhu1# ALEX BLAKE

Image rights: Apple.

How to do anything on your Mac, iPhone & iPad

HOW TO Use Notiﬁcation Center and add widgets

Notification Center basics Swipe right on a notification to hide it. Click the time and date in the top–right corner to open Notification Center. Here you can act on your alerts, see more details, close them, and more.

See more Some notiﬁcations, such as those with content hidden by your settings, don’t show everything on– screen. If a notiﬁcation says “See more,” clicking this button gives more options for responding to the alert.

Add a new widget The Notiﬁcation Center contains widgets. Click the time and date, then click Edit Widgets at the bottom. Choose an app on the left and select its size in the central column. Click the widget to add it to the sidebar.

Image rights: Apple.

Stacked alerts Multiple notiﬁcations from the same app are grouped in stacks. Click the top notiﬁcation in a stack to expand it and see the others, or hide them by clicking Show Less. Clear (or Clear All) removes the stacked alerts.

Deliver quietly To customize alert settings, click the “>” button, then “…” and choose Deliver Quietly (which sends alerts directly to Notiﬁcation Center) or Deliver Prominently. This plays a sound and shows a notiﬁcation banner.

Adjust widget order To rearrange widgets already in the sidebar, click and drag them to a new spot. When adding a new widget, you can drag it to wherever you want instead of automatically adding it to the bottom of the list.

Take action Each notiﬁcation has one or more options, such as snoozing an alarm or replying to a message. Hover over the notiﬁcation to see the options (you might have to click a downward arrow to expand the options list).

Turn off notifications When adjusting notification settings, there is a Turn Off button and a button for Notification Preferences, which opens System Preferences on the Notifications pane (see “Genius tip”).

Remove the surplus When you are on the Edit Widget screen, hover over a widget in the sidebar and a “–” button appears. Click this to remove the widget. When you are ﬁnished, click Done at the bottom of the Notiﬁcation Center.

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>>> Create

BEFORE

AFTER

Reﬁned edits in Luminar AI Move on from one–click templates and manually adjust picture properties REQUIRES Luminar AI ($79), macOS 10.13.6 or later YOU WILL LEARN How to make tonal adjustments, counteract color casts, and add impact IT WILL TAKE 15 minutes

LUMINAR AI’S TEMPLATES provide a quick way to creatively grade your images to produce a range of attractive looks. However, by using a template you do run the risk of making your shots look somewhat “standardized.” Your photos pd|#dovr#vxļhu#iurp#sureohpv#zlwk#xqghu# — or overexposure, color casts, and lens–induced distortion. Fortunately, Luminar AI boasts a digital darkroom — the Edit module — that is packed full of tools that can overcome

common picture problems. While the latest iPhones use Smart HDR to combine multiple exposures into a single well– exposed shot, if you shoot on DSLR fdphudv#|rx#pd|#Ľqg#lw#pruh#fkdoohqjlqj# to capture detail in contrasting shadows and highlights. Luminar can selectively adjust contrasting tones to reveal missing details. Of course, many of Luminar’s Edit tools also boast an AI component to help |rx#Ľ{#frpprq#sureohpv#zlwk#d#ihz# slider tweaks. GEORGE CAIRNS

HOW TO Restore shadow and highlight details

Enhance AI To ﬁx a contrasting shot lacking detail in both the shadows and the highlights, click on the Edit module. Toggle open Enhance AI. Drag the Accent slider right to simultaneously lighten shadows and darken highlights.

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Tonal tweaks Drag the Enhance AI right for more sky detail. Toggle open the Light panel. Manually reveal more color and sky detail by dragging the Highlights slider left. Reveal more underexposed detail by dragging Shadows right.

Delicate detail To create a print with more punch, open the Structure panel. Drag the Amount slider right. This increases midtone contrast and makes delicate details stand out more. Increase Boost to add extra impact.

Image rights: Skylum.

How to do anything on your Mac, iPhone & iPad

HOW TO Reveal true colors

Color casts Different light sources can add warm or cold color casts to a shot. Cameras attempt to perform an auto white balance (AWB) operation to remove casts and show true colors. This doesn’t always succeed.

Manual correction Toggle open the Light panel. You can try choosing WB presets from the menu, such as Tungsten. For more accurate results, click the eyedropper tool on an area that should be white. A warm image will cool down.

Fine–tune color Open the Color panel and drag Vibrance to boost weaker colors without over–saturating skin tones. The Remove Color Cast slider is not as effective as performing a custom balance correction.

HOW TO Remove noise and distortion

View noise In low–light conditions, your camera may use a high (fast) ISO speed to capture more detail. However, this can lead to nasty specks of color and luminance noise. Press Cmd+1 to zoom in by 100% and check for noise.

Reduce noise Toggle open the Denoise panel. Drag Color Denoise to 100%. This reduces rainbow specs of color noise. Drag Luminosity Noise right to get a compromise between smoothing out noise while preserving key details.

Reduce distortion Every lens adds some distortion to a shot (causing straight lines to curve or barrel at the edges). Scroll down to the Professional section, toggle open Optics, and select the Auto Distortion Corrections box.

> SHOOT IN RAW

Give Luminar AI more to work with A JPEG format file provides a shorthand description of a scene’s colors and tones. A Raw format file tells the whole story. The photos in this tutorial were shot as Raw format files. Luminar AI can reveal more missing color and detail from a Raw file compared to a JPEG. More importantly, Raw files contain fewer compression artifacts. Any editing will exaggerate a JPEG’s artifacts, creating jagged blocks of color in graduated skies, for example. You can shoot in Apple ProRAW using an iPhone Pro 12 and edit the files in Luminar AI.

Image rights: Skylum.

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>>> Create

Burn a DVD in Big Sur If you still miss iDVD, don’t worry — iMovie and Finder have your back REQUIRES A recordable DVD (DVD-R), a DVD burner (such as Apple’s SuperDrive) YOU WILL LEARN How to create a movie DVD in Big Sur IT WILL TAKE 20 minutes

WHEN APPLE’S iLIFE creative suite made its debut in 2001, one of its key attractions was the ability to edit home movies in iMovie. You could then burn them to new–fangled optical discs using iDVD — perfect for reliving happy family occasions and holidays on a DVD player. It seemed like the future. Twenty years later and you’re more likely to share your iPhone movie footage on YouTube than on a spinning piece of plastic, but macOS Big Sur still gives you the ability to create DVDs — albeit

without the animated menus and vhdpohvv#zrunľrz#wkdw#lGYG#+zklfk# Apple retired in 2011) once did. Or the ability to play the discs back in DVD players, come to that. For that level of sophistication, you’ll need something like Roxio Toast 19. No matter. In this guide we’re going to show you how to burn a DVD using iMovie and Finder in Big Sur. Naturally, |rx#zloo#qhhg#vxlwdeoh#phgld#+vxfk#dv# a blank DVD–R) and a DVD burner such dv#Dssohġv#XVE#VxshuGulyh#+':<,1# ROB MEAD–GREEN

HOW TO Save a movie ﬁle to a recordable DVD

Export an iMovie project In iMovie > Projects, click the “…” icon next to the project you want to export. Choose Share Project > File, then choose a title, tags, and a suitable video resolution. Click Next to export the ﬁle.

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Copy the file to a DVD While this method doesn’t create a VIDEO_TS file that enables your movie to be played on a DVD player, you can still use the DVD to share video files or create a backup. Insert a blank DVD and choose Open Finder in the window that appears.

Burn, baby, burn Drag and drop the ﬁle you exported earlier onto the DVD image — it will appear as an alias there. In Finder, click the Burn button, then in the pop–up that appears, choose a name for your DVD and a Burn Speed. Finally, click Burn.

Image rights: Apple.

How to do anything on your Mac, iPhone & iPad

Print out Contacts labels How to quickly print addresses onto labels for greetings cards and more REQUIRES A printer, suitable printer labels, Contacts, and contacts YOU WILL LEARN How to print address labels from the Contacts app in Big Sur IT WILL TAKE 20 minutes

EMAILS AND MESSAGES are all very well, but sending your correspondence in the post is sometimes necessary, or simply just a bit nicer. If you’re sending annual greetings cards, a family round robin, or a community newsletter to a few people, though, you end up with a lot of envelopes to sort. Nobody wants to have to sit down and write out dozens or even hundreds of postal addresses. Luckily, that’s where macOS’s Contacts app comes in.

Use the Group or Smart Group function in the app and you’ll be able to keep all the relevant contacts grouped, and you’ll also be able to use that group as a mailing list for the thing(s) you want to send. Even better, select all the names in a group and click File > Print and you’ll see a Print dialog that enables you to print the names and addresses for each person onto envelopes, lists, or onto selfadhesive labels made by the likes of Avery and DYMO. We’re choosing the latter option here. ROB MEAD–GREEN

HOW TO Print names and addresses from Contacts

Pick a card, any card We’ve created a group of contacts called The Appleseeds for the purposes of this tutorial, but you could actually print out every person’s card in Contacts if you wanted to, with each person given their own address label.

Image rights: Apple.

Choose a print option Select all of the contacts you want to print, and go to File > Print (Cmd+P) to bring up Contacts’ Print dialog. Under Style, select Mailing Labels, then under Page choose the label brand.

Choose a label type There are dozens of different label types, so make sure the Print dialog option you choose under Page matches what’s on the labels you’ve bought — this ensures they print correctly. Here we’re using Avery Standard 8768. Now, print!

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>>> Create

Get image ﬁles organized How to manage your photos with ACDSee Photo Studio For Mac 7 REQUIRES ACDSeePhoto Studio For Mac 7 $99.99 YOU WILL LEARN How to locate and rate assets from local or removable drives IT WILL TAKE 15 minutes

IF YOU’VE BEEN taking photos for many years you’re likely to have thousands of images scattered across a range of locations, from your Mac’s Pictures folder to a motley collection of removable hard drives. This can make it a tedious fkdoohqjh#wr#Ľqg#vshflĽf#Ľohv/#hvshfldoo|# if you can’t remember when a particular photograph was captured or which drive it’s stored on. Fortunately, you can use a Digital Asset Management app such as Photo Studio for

Mac 7 to round up and organize thousands of stray shots. In part one of our look at the app, we’ll demonstrate how to use key asset management tools such as ratings, color labels, and keywords. You can also place images in easy–to–browse custom categories (such as cats, dogs, portraits, hwf,1#\rx#fdq#wkhq#Ľqg#Ľohv#txlfno|# according to the ratings, color labels, keywords, or categories that you’ve assigned — regardless of whether they’re stored locally or on a removable drive. GEORGE CAIRNS

HOW TO Locate and organize ﬁles

GENIUS TIP You can create custom keywords. Click the Keyword panel’s “+” icon and type in a keyword, such as a name. Select the box to assign the name to a shot.

Browse to images At the left of Photo Studio 7’s Manage workspace is the Folders pane. Toggle open the Local label to browse to folders full of photos located on your Mac. Click on a thumbnail in the File List pane to target it.

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Rate images Go to the top of the Organize pane on the right. Here you can click to assign a color label (such as green to keep a good shot or red to reject a bad one). You can also numerically rate shots in order of preference.

Image rights: ACD Systems International.

How to do anything on your Mac, iPhone & iPad

JARGON BUSTER

Bigger picture To get a better look at a shot, click the View icon (top–right). This combines a ﬁlmstrip view with a bigger picture display. Shift–click on the selected image to add ratings or color labels from the pop–up menu.

Add keywords Toggle open the Keyword Sets panel. Click the gear–shaped icon and choose a set, such as People. Click any appropriate keywords, such as Friend and/or Woman, to assign those keywords to the selected images.

Create categories Go back to the Manage workspace and toggle open Categories. Click the “+” icon and create a custom category, such as Portraits. Select a category’s gray box to assign it to a shot. A green tag will appear on the thumbnail.

Each image file contains information such as the camera settings used to capture the shot. This is known as the metadata. You can attach color labels, ratings, and keywords as additional metadata.

Browse removable drives Click on the Removable label in the Folders pane (top–left) to browse photos on removable drives. Here, we’ve added color labels to shots, and added photos to our Portrait category.

GENIUS TIP If you’ve rated a file or added it to a category then its thumbnail will appear even if the removable drive is not connected. However, to edit the image then you’ll need to plug the drive in.

Locate images After adding keywords, labels, ratings, and categories to photos in multiple locations, you can ﬁnd ﬁles fast. Here, we’ve clicked on our custom Portraits category to display all the shots we added to that category.

Image rights: ACD Systems International.

Combine searches You can search for photos using multiple criteria. For example, hold down the Cmd key and select to ﬁnd any shots that have a green label, a rating of 4 or 5, and belong to the Portraits category.

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>>> Create

YOUR STORY As you use Woebot, this section will fill up with sections for techniques and concepts learned.

THE CHAT This is where you talk. It’s deliberately designed to resemble a Messages or Messenger chat.

SPECIFIC TOOLS Here you’ll find the tools that Woebot uses for challenging negativity, stress– busting, and so on.

WOEBOT REPLIES Most of your interaction with Woebot will be predefined responses like the ones shown.

Be mindful on your Mac The mental health chatbot that can help you feel better REQUIRES Woebot (free), iOS 13 or later, some peace and quiet YOU WILL LEARN How Woebot can help with mindfulness IT WILL TAKE A few minutes a day

MANY OF US#duh#Ľqglqj# wklqjv#uhdoo|#kdug#uljkw#qrz/# dqg#vdgo|#wkh#wklqj#wkdwġv# pdnlqj#wklqjv#vr#glĿfxow#iru# vr#pdq|#ğ#FRYLG04<#ğ#lv#dovr#pdnlqj# lw#kdug#iru#shrsoh#wr#dffhvv#wkh#vxssruw# wkdw#frxog#khos#wkhp1#Zkdw#li#whfkqrorj|# frxog#vwhs#lqB# Wkdwġv#wkh#surplvh#ri#phqwdo#khdowk# dssv#vxfk#dv#Zrherw#+iuhh,/#zklfk#lv#ehlqj# ghvfulehg#dv#ģwkh#ixwxuh#ri#phqwdo# khdowk1Ĥ#Lwġv#ghvfulehg#dv#d#ģwkhudshxwlf#

You can return to Woebot’s toolkit at any time. Here we’re looking at the Stress & Change tools.

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uhodwlrqdo#djhqwĤ#ğ#edvlfdoo|/#d#fkdwerw# iru#wkhuds|1#Wkh#lghd#ehklqg#wkh#dss#lv# wkdw#|rx#fkhfn#lq#hyhu|#gd|#dqg#wdon#wr# lw#mxvw#olnh#|rx#zrxog#wdon#wr#d#kxpdq# wkhudslvw1#Wkurxjk#d#frpelqdwlrq#ri#DL# dqg#qdwxudo#odqjxdjh#surfhvvlqj#lw#fdq# xqghuvwdqg#dqg#dgdsw#wr#|rxu#hprwlrqdo# dqg#frjqlwlyh#vwdwh/#khoslqj#|rx#glvfryhu# zd|v#wr#ihho#ehwwhu1 Dv#zhġoo#glvfryhu#khuh/#Zrherw#lv# vlpsoh#wr#xvh#dqg#lwġv#iuhh/#vr#wkhuhġv# qr#grzqvlgh#wr#wu|lqj#lw#rxw1#Zh#wklqn# lw#grhv#d#jrrg#mre#ri#khoslqj#|rx#h{soruh# |rxu#ihholqjv#dqg#ri#lqwurgxflqj#|rx#wr# frqfhswv/#whfkqltxhv/#dqg#wrrov##|rx#fdq# xvh#wr#pdnh#srvlwlyh#lpsuryhphqwv1# Wkdw#vdlg/#lwġv#dovr#lpsruwdqw#wr# xqghuvwdqg#zkdw#Zrherw#lvqġw1#Lw#lvqġw# ghvljqhg#iru#shrsoh#zkr#duh#lq#d#phqwdo# khdowk#fulvlv1#Li#|rx#qhhg#wr#vshdn#wr# vrpherg|#xujhqwo|/#irujhw#derxw#dssv#dqg# jhw#rq#wkh#skrqh=#lq#wkh#XV/#|rx#fdq#wh{w# PKD#wr#:74:74#dw#wkh#Fulvlv#Wh{w#Olqh# ru#fdoo#<44#wr#jhw#lpphgldwh#khos1# CARRIE MARSHALL

Image rights: Woebot Labs.

How to do anything on your Mac, iPhone & iPad

HOW TO Get chatting with Woebot

JARGON BUSTER

Say hello Woebot is a chatbot, designed to talk and interact like a human counselor — albeit one with a lame sense of humor. When you ﬁrst run the app, Woebot will tell you a little about who they are and what they’re here to do.

Answer questions Woebot bases its sessions around simple questions. For example, here it’s asking us to think of three things we’re grateful about. This is to introduce us to the idea of gratitude journalling, recognizing the good things in life.

Start chatting It’s important to feel at ease in these conversations, so the app takes a bit of time to get you comfortable with the character. Many of your responses are canned replies, such as the “really” and “that’s strange” options here.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, CBT for short, is a form of therapy that aims to positively change how you think and react to things.

Ask for help When Woebot asks about the more negative things in your life, it’ll ask whether you want help or if you just want to vent. It may also offer a choice of tools, such as the offer of a mindfulness option here.

GENIUS TIP If you have an Apple Watch, its breathe reminders encourage you to take a few moments out of your day for a mindfulness break.

Learn new concepts One thing Woebot does very well is introduce you to key concepts that can help you reframe negative thoughts. Here it’s describing “fortune telling,” when we convince ourselves we can predict the future.

Image rights: Woebot Labs.

Set reminders You can get Woebot to strike up a conversation at whichever time of day suits you by going into the Preferences to select your chosen time. Woebot will pop up in your notiﬁcations at the appropriate time.

JUN 2021 89

>>> Create

Get started with Signal Keep your messages free from prying eyes with extra privacy features REQUIRES Signal (free), iOS 11 or later YOU WILL LEARN How to use Signal and protect your messaging privacy IT WILL TAKE 5 minutes

APPLE’S APP PRIVACY labels on the App Store now reveal an incredible amount of information apps like Facebook Messenger collect about you. The new approach has made many people start looking for more privacy–friendly alternatives. If that sounds like you, you’re in luck, as Signal could be exactly what you need. This messaging app has been built from the ground up to protect your private information. Not only does it come with many features that keep

your conversations secure — such as disappearing messages and photo– blurring tools — but every message you send is end–to–end encrypted by default. There’s no need to opt in, it’s enabled from the get–go. In this tutorial, we will introduce you to Signal and show you how to get started. You will learn the basics of how to send messages and add contacts, as well as how to use its privacy–protecting features. Before long, you will have a much more secure way to contact friends and family. ALEX BLAKE

HOW TO Send messages

Contacts on Signal Tap the Pencil icon. If you give the app permission to access your contacts, friends using Signal will be shown here (pull down on the list to refresh it if they do not appear). Tap their name to start a conversation.

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Group messages Start a group chat by tapping “New Group” at the bottom, or tap the pencil icon, then New Group. Tap the names of the people you want to add, then tap Next. Name your group, add a group photo, then tap Create.

Search by number Start a new chat or group by adding a friend’s phone number. Tap the Pencil icon, then “Find by Phone Number.” For groups, tap New Group then Find by Phone Number. The new message window then appears.

Image rights: Signal Foundation.

How to do anything on your Mac, iPhone & iPad

HOW TO Add and edit photos

Take a picture Tap the camera icon on the home screen to take a photo. You can ﬂip the camera, toggle the ﬂash, or choose from your photo library using buttons on screen. Tap the “+” button to take and send multiple pictures.

Blur faces Once you have taken a photo, you can blur faces by tapping the hatched circle button at the top of the screen and enabling the “Blur Faces” toggle. Draw with your ﬁnger to blur additional areas that you want to hide.

Tweak your image After taking a photo, you can add text to your image, doodle on it, crop it, and save it to your phone. In the bottom–left there’s a button to stop the image from being viewed more than once (tap again to disable it).

HOW TO Adjust your settings

Privacy controls Tap your proﬁle icon in the top– left, then tap “Privacy.” Here, you can toggle read receipts, typing indicators, link previews, and much more. “Enable Screen Security” hides app content when using the App Switcher.

Secure the app In Privacy settings you can lock the app using Face ID, Touch ID, or your device passcode, and reset your Signal PIN. You can also choose to require this PIN if you log into your Signal account on a new device.

Add personalization Change your overall chat wallpaper in Settings > Appearance, or for one contact by tapping their name. There is also a toggle (disabled by default) to use your device’s contact photos for contacts in Signal.

> SIGNAL VS TELEGRAM

Which is the right app for you? Recently, interest has surged in both Signal and Telegram. But which is the better app? If privacy is on your mind, get Signal. Every conversation you have is end–to– end encrypted by default, whereas in Telegram you must opt in (and there is no encrypted option for groups). Telegram has its beneﬁts, like being able to send ﬁles up to 2GB in size versus 100MB in Signal. You can also use its web interface, whereas using Signal requires the app. Signal is more private, while Telegram has some nice extras. Get the one that most suits your needs.

Image rights from top: Signal Foundation, Telegram FZ-LLC.

JUN 2021 91

>>> Create

Offload your iOS files Use USB sticks and memory cards to move files from your iPhone or iPad REQUIRES Mac, iPad, or iPhone; a suitable adapter; a power source YOU WILL LEARN How to connect USB drives to your device IT WILL TAKE 10 minutes

iPADS AND iPHONES don’t have expandable storage — but you can use external USB sticks and memory cards wr#wudqvihu#ru#vwruh#Ľohv#|rx#grqġw#qhhg#wr# keep on your device. Things are easier if you own an iPad Air or iPad Pro equipped with USB–C, since you can connect USB–C sticks directly. However, often you’ll need an adapter, especially when using a memory card, or an iPad or iPhone equipped with

GENIUS TIP Apple’s USB adapters aren’t just useful for external storage. You can also use them to connect USB hardware such as keyboards or instruments.

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Your USB drive or memory card works just like any other destination in the Files app.

Lightning. In that case, to connect USB sticks, you will need the Lightning to USB Camera Adapter or the Lightning to USB–3 Camera Adapter; to connect memory cards, the Lightning to SD Card Camera Reader or the USB–C to SD Card Camera Reader. While USB sticks don’t use as much power as external hard drives, they still need a certain amount in order to operate — and that may be more power than your iPhone or iPad is willing to give them. So, one of three things will happen: you’ll get a pop–up saying “Cannot use accessory… this accessory requires too much power,” the drive simply won’t show up at all, or your iPhone or iPad will crash. The solution is to use a powered USB hub that plugs into the wall, or the Lightning to USB–3 Camera Adapter with a power supply (other adapters don’t have this option). Using USB sticks with iPhones and iPads is really straightforward. It’s a great way to transfer data that’s too big for AirDrop when iCloud Drive isn’t an option. CARRIE MARSHALL

Image rights: Apple.

How to do anything on your Mac, iPhone & iPad

HOW TO Connect external items to iPhone or iPad

Erase your USB If you’re starting with a blank USB drive, it may not be blank — many manufacturers include utility apps. You can delete them manually or you can erase the drive in Disk Utility (it’s in Applications > Utilities on your Mac).

Get connected Connect the adapter (if needed) to your Apple device and your USB stick or SD card to the adapter. If you’re using a USB stick, you’ll probably see this. USB drives need power and your iPhone or iPad may not provide it.

Interact with items If you long–press a file icon, you’ll see the context–sensitive menu shown here. This enables common file operations, such as duplicating and deleting. You can also use it to rename or tag files and compress them.

Image rights: Apple.

Change the format Many USB sticks are formatted for Windows in FAT/ExFAT formats. They should work on your device but it’s prudent to format them as Mac OS Extended in Disk Utility unless you need to use the drive on non–Apple hardware.

A hub helps

Drag your data Save ﬁles to your drive from inside apps or drag and drop them in the Finder, as shown here. One of the quickest ways is to open the external device, then open a new tab for the folder you’ll drag and drop from.

Explore your USB

If you have a wall–powered USB hub, you can put your USB stick in that and then connect the hub to your adapter (shown here). Open the Files app on your device to see your USB device in the list of locations.

When navigating around your external storage, you can move from folder to folder, change the way ﬁles are displayed, and so on. You can also use the search bar if there are lots of ﬁles in a folder.

Enjoy the audio

Access on your iPhone

Provided your USB device is recent you should be able to play media directly from it without having to copy the file(s) to your Apple device first. High–quality audio is usually fine but HD video can be a bit hit and miss.

The Files app on your iPhone looks a bit different because of the smaller space but it works in exactly the same way as with the iPad. Just ensure your USB device has a power source.

JUN 2021 93

>>> Create

Use Sleep Mode in iOS 14 Get better sleep with help from your device

REQUIRES An iOS device, iOS 14 or later YOU WILL LEARN How to use Sleep Mode in iOS 14 IT WILL TAKE 10 minutes

A GOOD NIGHT’S sleep is important for our overall well–being, yet too many of us stay up late at night scrolling on our iPhones. Ironically, though, your iOS device can actually help you get to sleep thanks to a handy feature in the Health app. That feature is Sleep Mode, which lets |rx#ghĽqh#d#ehgwlph#vfkhgxoh#iru#wkh#gd|v# and weeks ahead. When this schedule is active, your iPhone’s Lock Screen is dimmed, Do Not Disturb is enabled, and you’re encouraged to start relaxing for bed.

Part of that process is Wind Down, which begins before your stated bedtime. If you have enabled this handy feature, Do Not Disturb mode starts from the moment Wind Down is active instead of waiting for your bedtime. You can also set Shortcuts for relaxation apps to help wrap up your day. It’s clear Apple has put plenty of thought into reducing your iPhone usage before bed. As we will see in this tutorial, Sleep Mode is a great way to eliminate distractions and achieve a peaceful night’s sleep more often. ALEX BLAKE

QUICK LOOK Sleep Mode basics

DAYS ACTIVE This shows the days Sleep Mode is active on your device. Tap a day to add or remove it from the schedule.

TIME WHEEL Adjust Sleep Mode’s active times by moving the end points on this wheel. Sleep duration is at the bottom.

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SHORTCUTS Tap Shortcuts to see the shortcuts you have enabled for Sleep Mode, then tap one to run it.

DISMISS Tap Dismiss to temporarily suspend Sleep Mode. It will be re–enabled when you next lock your device.

Image rights: Apple.

How to do anything on your Mac, iPhone & iPad

HOW TO Use and conﬁgure Sleep Mode

Upcoming alarms Open the Health app, tap Browse, then tap Sleep. Scroll to Your Schedule and tap Edit to adjust the next upcoming alarm on your schedule, toggle the alarm on or off, snooze the alarm, and more. Tap Done.

Track your sleep goals Under Additional Details you can determine your sleep goal and how long your Wind Down period is. Tap Sleep Goal or Wind Down to set your desired times for each of these.

Run the shortcut Shortcuts will show on your Lock Screen when Sleep Mode is active. Tap Shortcuts on the Lock Screen, then tap the one you wish to run. Use Siri for this to save you going on your phone while you’re in bed.

Image rights: Apple.

Adjust regular timetable Tap Full Schedule & Options, then tap Edit to adjust your current schedule. Here, the settings apply to every day that Sleep Mode is active. You can also choose which days it runs on.

Fine–grained details At the bottom, tap Options. You can decide how your sleep schedule works — whether it shows the time on your Lock Screen, if you get reminders your Wind Down is starting, whether you see your sleep results, and more.

Sleep history Your sleep history is at the top of the Sleep page in Health. Tap “W” for the previous week or “M” for the past month. Tap Sleep Schedule to see how you did with your schedule. Tap Show More Sleep Data for more details.

Add a new schedule Tap Add Schedule for Other Days to add another schedule in addition to an existing one. You could have one for weekdays and one for the weekend, or a special schedule if you regularly travel on a certain day.

Wind Down shortcuts Tap Wind Down Shortcuts, then Add Shortcut. Choose from the list and tap the “+” button, or tap Show Apps from the App Store to download an app. Tap Add Another Shortcut if you need to.

Control Center For easy access to Sleep Mode, add it to Control Center. Open the Settings app and tap Control Center, then tap the “+” next to Sleep Mode. Now swipe down from the top–right and tap the bed icon to toggle Sleep Mode.

JUN 2021 95

>>> Create

Music–recognition software We discover how apps like Shazam work their magic

HOW IT WORKS

YOU WILL LEARN How music recognition software works on your devices

SHAZAM IS TOUCH ID FOR TUNES: IT CAN ANALYZE AND RECOGNIZE A SONG’S AUDIO FINGERPRINT

KEY FACT Apple completed its $400m acquisition of Shazam in 2018 and has been quietly integrating it with iOS and iPadOS ever since. You can get it to recognize songs via Siri or with the dedicated music recognition button in your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch’s Control Center, and Shazam works from your HomePod too. You can add Shazam music recognition to your Mac.

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IN RECENT YEARS, Apple has quietly bought some of our favorite apps. It owns the weather app Dark Sky and is in the process of integrating it with its own weather widgets, it bought the reading app Texture to create Apple News, and it also acquired the music recognition app Shazam. We’ve been using Shazam for years to recognize songs, and because we’re bad people we’ve occasionally used it rq#rxu#Dssoh#Zdwfk#gxulqj#wrrĞglĿfxow# Zoom quizzes (ahem, only kidding). But we mainly use it as a force for good, to identify and save the great music we didn’t know about. Our Apple Music and Spotify libraries would be much poorer without it. Shazam works in a very similar way to our brains. You only need to hear a few seconds of The Beatles’ Help!, Prince’s Kiss, Metallica’s Enter Sandman or Cardi B’s WAP to know what the song is because you recognize its unique audio. Shazam does the same thing, but in a much more ghwdlohg#dqg#hļhfwlyh#zd|#ğ#dqg#lw#fdq#gr# it by listening to any part of the song. THE SCIENCE BIT Vkd}dp#lv#Wrxfk#LG#iru#wxqhv#ğ#lw#fdq# uhfrjql}h#d#vrqjġv#Ľqjhusulqw#dqg# compare it to songs in its database. If |rxġuh#rŀlqh/#lwġoo#vwruh#wkh#Ľqjhusulqw# until you get an internet connection.

A spectrogram is a song’s audio ﬁngerprint, showing variations in frequency and volume.

Wr#fuhdwh#d#Ľqjhusulqw/#Vkd}dp# needs to capture some audio. It uses the microphone in your Apple Watch, iPhone, iPad, or Mac to listen to the song that’s playing, and after 10 seconds it has enough audio to calculate an audio Ľqjhusulqw#iru#lw1#Wkdw#Ľqjhusulqw#lv#d# spectrogram, which is sometimes called d#vrqrjudsk#ru#d#yrlfhsulqw#ğ#lwġv# hļhfwlyho|#d#yhu|#ghwdlohg#judsk#wkdw#vd|v# “at this time, this frequency was played at this volume.” Audio spectrograms are also used in voice recognition and language processing systems. Even very similar–sounding songs kdyh#yhu|#glļhuhqw#dxglr#Ľqjhusulqwv/# and if you have a database containing hqrxjk#Ľqjhusulqwv#|rx#fdq#pdwfk# even the most obscure track. It certainly helps if, like Shazam, you’ve been Ľqjhusulqwlqj#dxglr#vlqfh#zd|#edfn#lq# 5335#ğ#lwġv#ehhq#durxqg#vlqfh#ehiruh#wkh# iPhone, never mind iPhone apps. In its Ľuvw#lqfduqdwlrq/#|rx#kdg#wr#fdoo#d#qxpehu# on your phone in order to recognize the music and you had to pay for the privilege ğ#lq#5339/#Vkd}dplqj#d#vrqj#frvw#|rx# durxqg#'31;8#d#fdoo#ru#'9158#d#prqwk#iru# unlimited use. HOW TO USE SHAZAM Since it acquired Shazam, Apple has kept wkh#vwdqgĞdorqh#dss#jrlqj#ğ#exw#lwġv#dovr# integrated the tech into Control Center on iOS and iPadOS. In fact, you can actually add it by going into Settings > Control Center and turning and clicking the “+” next to Music Recognition. If you have a HomePod or HomePod mini, you can ask Siri to Shazam a song, and on iOS devices you can say to Siri, “what song is playing?” There’s also a Shazam It action you can add to your Shortcuts. On the Mac, you can download Shazam for Mac from the Mac App Store to add music recognition to your Mac’s menu bar.

Image rights: Apple.

How to do anything on your Mac, iPhone & iPad

> DON’T LIKE SHAZAM? TRY THESE

Shazam integrates tightly with Spotify and Apple Music, taking you directly to recognized songs.

One of our favorite features on the app is Auto Shazam. If you touch and hold the Shazam button or double–click it on a Mac, it turns on Auto Shazam. That enables you to go and do something else while Shazam continues to listen and match the audio that’s playing around you. It’ll then add links to those songs in the My Music section with the Auto– Shazams clearly labelled and grouped by gdwh1#\rx#fdq#wxuq#wklv#ihdwxuh#rļ#djdlq# with a tap or a click. WHEN THE HARDWARE CAN’T HEAR The biggest problem with audio Ľqjhusulqwv#lv#wkh#vdph#dv#zlwk#dfwxdo# Ľqjhusulqwv#ğ#|rx#qhhg#d#uhdgdeoh#sulqw/# or in this case a listenable one. If there’s too much competing audio it messes with wkh#vshfwurjudp#dqg#pdnhv#lw#glĿfxow#wr# get a match. You can thank your iPhone for the speed and accuracy of tune recognition, because the huge advances in cell phone dqg#dxglr#whfk#kdyh#uhdoo|#ehqhĽwhg# services such as Shazam. Noise– cancelling microphones, better audio software, and battle–tested algorithms

Image rights: Apple.

If the Shazam icon isn’t in your Control Center, you can add it and move it around in Settings.

deliver cleaner audio that’s much easier to analyze. Creating and matching the Ľqjhusulqw#lv#wkh#kdug#elw1# After that, the app’s job is pxfk#hdvlhu#ğ#lw#vlpso|#sxoov# up the matching song data and any related links (such as Apple Music or Spotify links).

Shazam may be Apple’s in–house option but it isn’t the only music recognizer out there. One of its biggest rivals is SoundHound, which is really a showcase for its developers’ audio recognition expertise — their Houndify platform is used by the likes of Honda, Mastercard, and Motorola. Its iOS app offers Apple Music and Spotify integration, synchronized lyrics, voice control, and music discovery. It’s a very solid Shazam alternative. It can even recognize songs by listening to you sing! If you’d rather see the video than stream the audio, Genius may be the audio ﬁngerprinter for you: when it recognizes a song it can show you the lyrics and take you to the ofﬁcial video. If it’s lyrics you’re after, Musixmatch Lyrics Finder uses Shazam–style song recognition to identify songs and pull the lyrics from your Apple Music or Spotify account to show them in time to the music for word–by–word synchronization.

APPLE MUSIC We didn’t have to play this song for SoundHound to recognize it. We sang it! Shazam has linked to Apple Music tracks for a long time but the two services are getting KEY FACT ever closer. If you’re an Apple Music subscriber, any songs you Shazam are The tech behind Shazam automatically added to a playlist called My isn’t just useful for music Shazam Tracks in your Music app. There’s recognition. Earthquakes also a Buy on iTunes link, if you need it. have audio fingerprints, The integration is already impressive too. There’s effectively a but you might want to keep the Shazam Shazam for seismologists; dss#ğ#lw#kdv#vrph#xvhixo#ihdwxuhv/#olnh# audio fingerprinting synchronized lyrics that follow the audio, enables them to detect doubling as an instant karaoke feature. and analyze earthquakes, Shazam has some great music discovery and could be part of an features and its own playlist organization early warning system with Apple Music and Spotify playlist in vulnerable areas. integration. CARRIE MARSHALL

JUN 2021 97

>>> RAM

RANDOM APPLE MEMORY

The special relationship between the Mac and Microsoft Word Charlotte Henry on how Microsoft’s Word became a core part of the Mac September 1985, and presentation software PowerPoint in April 1987. It all added to the functionality of the newcomer machines as Apple fought to win over business users — IBM was still meant to be the real enemy in those days. By the 1990s Microsoft was developing original code for Word for Macintosh. Over the years, Mac users have continued to get new features from the rebranded Office suite ahead of Windows users. Indeed, Microsoft Office itself arrived on the Mac before it was available on Windows — 19 June 1989. The software suite included Word 4.00, Excel 2.20, PowerPoint 2.01, and Mail 1.37. Furthermore, Microsoft Office was an integral part of the 1997 deal which

saw a Bill Gates investment of $150 million save Apple from bankruptcy — all litigation was dropped, and the Cupertino company was given access to Microsoft Ofﬁce. Even with the presence of Apple’s very own suite of Ofﬁce–like products, Microsoft 365 (the current name for the software bundle) remains available for $6.99 per month or $69.99 annually, keeping the link between our Apple devices and core Microsoft software as strong as ever.

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>>> 33 amazing Big Sur super powers!

>>> How to make music on a Mac

>>> The best weather apps!

JUN 22

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IT’S EASY TO think of Apple and Microsoft as enemies — they’re certainly rivals in many fields and there have been some high–profile clashes. Look beyond the cliché, though, and the two companies have periodically come together to form mutually beneficial partnerships. A perfect example of this is Word, and the wider Microsoft Office suite. On 24 January 1984 the two companies announced Macintosh computers would run, amongst other things, Word. Macintosh Word was launched on 18 January 1985. Adapted directly from Word for DOS, it was the first graphical version of the software. Other related software followed for the Mac — the Spreadsheet tool Excel in

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